The first black actress to win an Oscar: Who is Hattie Mcdaniel?

During the Oscar ceremony in 1940, she was rewarded and discriminated against by having to sit in one of the seats reserved for blacks.

But the Oscar statuette disappeared 60 years ago. Before she died in 1952, she asked for her award to be donated to Howard University. While the location of the statuette still remains a mystery, the Academy made a new statement.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that the award will be donated to Howard University.

The actor's Oscar statuette will be donated to Howard University on October 1 with a ceremony called "Hattie's Come Home".

Hattie McDaniel (June 10, 1893 – October 26, 1952) was an American actress, singer-songwriter, and comedienne. For her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939), she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the first African American to win an Oscar. She has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1975, and in 2006 became the first Black Oscar winner honored with a U.S. postage stamp.

At the 12th Academy Awards, McDaniel was sitting at a reserved table in the far corner of the hall when she won her award. The actress succumbed to breast cancer in 1952 at the age of 59.

She was born in Kansas in 1893. She was the youngest of 13 siblings. She was both a singer and an actress. She moved to Colorado with her family in 1900 and finished high school there.

She started her acting career with small roles. However, she gradually gained acceptance. However, she was criticized by black people because the roles she played were such as servants and slaves. When she finally auditioned for the movie Gone with the Wind, she was able to get the role of the maid, although she did not have much hope.

The premiere of the film was held in Atlanta on December 15, 1939, and Hattie could not attend due to racist Jim Crow laws. Because according to this law, whites and blacks could not be in the same environment.

The 12th Academy Awards ceremony in 1940 took place at the Coconut Grove restaurant in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. At that ceremony, the producers and directors had to beg for Hattie to enter the hotel. When she finally entered, she and her husband had to sit at a separate table for two, away from everyone else. Despite this, her award speech was extremely polite:

"Academy of Cinematic Arts and Sciences, film industry friends and guests of honor; This is one of the happiest moments of my life and I would like to thank everyone who contributed to me receiving this award. I can say thank you and god bless you.”

McDaniel later continued to act in many films and made radio programs. She was also the first black woman to sing on the radio in America.

McDaniel died of breast cancer on October 26, 1952, at the age of 59, at Motion Picture House Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.

McDaniel has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood. One is at 6933 Hollywood Boulevard for her contributions to radio, and the other is at 1719 Vine Street for her contributions to cinema. She was also inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1975, and in 2006 she became the first black Oscar winner to be honored on a US postage stamp.