Hattie McDaniel

As with our Black Directors feature, we thought it was important to do some time traveling and begin our list near the origins of cinema. As it is true in most American art forms, Black artists are the bedrock. Hattie McDaniel was the first Black artist to win an Academy Award for Gone With the Wind (1939). Her work in the film has been the source of many conversations of representation over the last 100 years. Most recently in 2020 when HBOMax abruptly took the film down from their streaming platform, only to re-add with supplemental materials for context. The role, though, is quite emblematic of the parts McDaniel was often relegated.

Originally a Chicago recording artist with Paramount & Okeh Records, McDaniel found herself making the voyage out to Los Angeles after the stock market crash in 1929. She utilized her skills as a performer to transition to film. However, she was continuously cast in marginal roles. Her undeniable voice & screen presence couldn’t be dampened, though. She got her big break in John Ford’s Judge Priest (1934). From here, she continued to trail-blaze but at the same time experiencing great racism & segregation. Even with the aforementioned Oscar, she was only admitted to the actual ceremony “as a favor.” She was forced to sit alone at a segregated table at the side of the room due to the venue, the Ambassador Hotel, being a whites-only theater.

It’s definite that McDaniel paved the way for many other Black performers, but one cannot ignore her success without acknowledging the resistance she was met with, both on and off the screen, in both Black & white communities. In this, Hattie McDaniel’s lived complexities personify the struggle many Black artists continue to come up against.

Notable works:
Judas Priest (1934)
Show Boat (1936)
Gone With the Wind (1939)
The Great Lie (1941)

Ramona Edith Williams