Remembering Hattie McDaniel: 75 years since a historic Oscar win

The Gone with the Wind star won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 1939 — but didn't inspire much change in Hollywood

Hattie MacDaniel
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Turner Classic Movies))

Before Lupita Nyong'o and Octavia Spencer, before Mo'Nique and Jennifer Hudson, before Halle Berry and Whoopi Goldberg, there was Hattie McDaniel. Her name comes up, now and again, when Hollywood finds itself at the center of a racial controversy, and with good reason: in 1940, she made history by becoming the first African-American to win an Oscar, for playing Mammy in Gone with the Wind.

McDaniel's victory came at the 12th Academy Awards, which were held in the Coconut Grove at The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Though the banquet tables lining the room seated her co-stars Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, and Olivia de Havilland, McDaniel was not allowed to sit in their company. Instead, she and her companion sat at a separate table, to the side, and in the back. She wore white gardenias in her hair, and as she accepted the award for Best Supporting Actress, she said she hoped she would "always be a credit to my race and to the motion picture industry."

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Stephanie is a freelance writer and communication strategist based in New York. Her work focuses on pop culture and the relationship between entertainment and society.