Hattie McDaniel: The First African American To Bag An Oscar
Despite the racial segregation, “Mammy” made a mark
Actors, especially women, find it difficult to take their first step into the film industry. They are expected to adhere to a specific body type (slim, of course!), have silky straight hair and features of a Greek goddess, all in one package. Everyone wants to see a Barbie sexily sauntering up the red carpet.
While there has been a lax in the expectation and women have been receiving better roles in recent times, there are, still, miles to go before we see more non-white, non-male centric films.
If this is true in the current century, imagine the plight of black women who dream to make it big in Hollywood in the 20th century.
Breaking all grounds and stigma surrounding her race, Hattie McDaniel became the first African American to be awarded an Oscar.
A Look Into Her Life
Hattie McDaniel was an African American actress, singer, and comedian born on June 10, 1893. She had the misfortune of being born in an era where racial segregation and slurs were rampant to parents who were former slaves. She was the youngest of 13 children.
In the 1920s, she commenced her career in radio, recording sessions with Melody Hounds on station KOA in Denver. Between 1926 and 1929, she sang for Okeh Records and Paramount Records in Chicago.
Most black women were denied job opportunities and had to work in meager jobs to make ends meet. Due to the stock market crash in 1929, McDaniel could only land a job as a washroom attendant.
Hattie moved to Los Angeles in the year 1931 to dip a toe in the film industry. She worked as a maid or a cook during hiatus in her acting journey. Her roles in the films were generally of a boisterous black maid. Not just in movies but also in a radio show called “Hi-Hat-Hattie”, she performs as a bossy maid who “forgets her place”.
While she had acted in several movies as a maid, it was “Mammy” from Gone with the Wind (a movie adaptation of the 1936 novel of the same name), a 1939 movie, that helped her bag an Oscar.
The Supporting Role of “Mammy” had as many contenders as the female protagonist. The then-First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, personally wrote to the producer to accept her maid, Elizabeth McDuffie into the role. But McDaniel came in her actual maid attire and bagged the role with her sassy attitude.
“Mammy” was the maid of a white family who chastised the owner’s daughter, Scarlett O’Hara, and mocks Rhett Butler (played by Clark Gable). Hattie played the role so immaculately that she won the Oscar for the Best Supporting Actress in the year 1940.
I sincerely hope I shall always be a credit to my race and to the motion picture industry. My heart is too full to tell you just how I feel, and may I say thank you and God bless you. — From McDaniel’s acceptance speech, 12th Annual Academy Awards, February 29, 1940
Though she was the first black woman to be credited for her art, McDaniel received a lot of fray from both the white and the black communities.
The white felt that she (Mammy) took undue advantage of her owners. The black, though they felt it was a breakthrough, condemned her choice of roles of portraying African women as slaves and maids.
Racial Segregation
During her time in the industry, Hattie McDaniel was confronted with shitloads of racial discrimination that her contemporaries were also facing.
The producer of Gone with the Wind, David Selznick, removed every black actor from the movie poster.
McDaniel was denied entry to the movie premiere in Atlanta as it was held in a whites-only theatre.
She, along with other black actors, was forced to sit at racially segregated tables at the Academy Award Ceremony (Oscars). Though it was held in the Ambassador Hotel (a whites-only hotel), McDaniel was granted a concession.
Hattie McDaniel passed away on October 26, 1952, due to Breast Cancer at the age of 59.
The unfairness of discrimination followed her to the grave when her last wish to be buried at the Hollywood Cemetry was refused as it was whites-only. Her relatives had to coax themselves with her cenotaph at the Hollywood Cemetry and Hattie was put to rest at Rosedale Cemetery instead.
Recognizing her work in the film industry, McDaniel was posthumously awarded multiple times. She received a place in the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1975, became the first black Oscar winner to be honored with a U.S postage stamp in 2006, and was inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame.
McDaniel set the mark for millions of black women who wanted to dip their feet in the whirlpool of the film industry. She proved that with the right amount of perseverance and dedication it is impossible to drown in the slurs.
