In an moment decades in the making, representatives from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Sunday night presented Howard University with a replacement Oscar for Hattie McDaniel’s 1940 best supporting actress award.The Oscar — for McDaniel’s performance as “Mammy” in the 1939 big-screen epic “Gone With the Wind” — was the first awarded to a Black actor. As a nod to the significance of that award, McDaniel bequeathed her Oscar to the university before her death in 1952.
“It was Hattie McDaniel’s intention that her Oscar should be placed here at Howard University in the College of Fine Arts in perpetuity,” Rashad said. It wasn’t until 1964 that Sidney Poitier would be the next African American to win another competitive Oscar. A Black woman would not win another Oscar until Whoopi Goldberg’s 1990 best supporting actress win for “Ghost.”As Stewart pointed out Sunday night, Hollywood continues to struggle with equal racial representation in film.