Page 6
The
Portland Observer Black History Month
February 27. 2OI3
First African-American to win an Oscar
Racial injustices
evident in 1939
Academy Award
RWA. Jl
maid? If I didn’t, I ’d be making $7 a
week being one.”
Sadly, that was pretty much the
extent of her career prospects in the
1930s and ‘40s, said Leonard, when
black women typically worked as
In the heart of both Oscar season
low-paid maids and cooks for house­
and Black History Month, consider
holds of well-to-do whites.
this: Seventy-three years ago, Hattie
"The constraints Hattie faced in
McDaniel became the first African
Hollywood mirrored the constraints
American to win an Academy Award
that she, a woman of color, faced in
for her performance as the capable,
society. Pretty much the only roles
doting Mammy in "Gone with the
made available to her were those of
Wind.” To accept the award, she
servants,” he said. "While some
had to walk to the stage from a
might argue that these portrayals
segregated table.
were based on the reality of that
McDaniel’s unlikely trek to the
time, the stereotype became so en­
trenched that black humanity got
washed out.”
McDaniel, who acted in dozens
more movies besides "Gone with
the Wind,” shared the stage with
Clark Gable, Katharine Hepburn,
Henry Fonda and other film leg­
ends. Her father was a musician and
former slave who steered his chil­
nam e ivicuamei (ngni) stars in tne rilm Gone with the Wind, a 1 9 3 9 classic that won her an
dren toward show business, accord­
Academy Award.
ing to the 2001 documentary, "Be­
podium demonstrated progress and navigating different worlds,” he
Adding to the insult by whites yond Tara: The Extraordinary Life
also a lack of progress, said David said. "Hollywood - and more spe­ was criticism by blacks. The NAACP
of Hattie McDaniel,” narrated by
L eonard, au th o r o f the book, cifically the academy - recognized singled out McDaniel for not speak­
W hoopi G o ld b erg . M cD an iel
"Screens Fade to Black: Contempo­ her talent in acting. But at the same ing out against roles that perpetu­
worked as a real maid until she was
rary African American Cinema, and time, it devalued her talent by mak­ ated the subservient African Ameri­
offered a film part playing one, it
c h a ir o f W ash in g to n S ta te ing her sit at a separate table and can stereotype.
says.
University’s Department of Critical also by casting her in roles limited to
To which McDaniel famously
After her nomination for Best
Culture, Gender and Race Studies. servants who took care o f white replied: "Why should I complain
Hattie McDaniel
"Hattie faced the challenge of people.”
about making $700 a week playing a
continued
on page 20
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