Feature Presentation:

African American Oscar Winners

Hattie McDaniel receives her oscar for her performance in Gone With the Wind

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Awards, considered the most prestigious annual award ceremony for film in the United States, has a long and distinguished history of recognizing outstanding achievement in film. Unfortunately, their recognition of African American actors, actresses, and filmmakers has been few and far between.

The first African American to win an Academy Award was Hattie McDaniel for her performance as "Mammy" in Gone With the Wind (1939). Despite this breakthrough fairly early in the history of the Academy Awards, it would be another twenty-four years before another African American was once again honored (with the exception of the Honorary Award given to James Baskett in 1948 for his performance as "Uncle Remus" in Disney's Song of the South). When Sidney Poitier (who was born in Miami and later moved to the U.S. at the age of 15, but is Bahamian and thus also considered a Caribbean black) won a Best Actor Oscar for his performance in Lilies of the Field (1963) in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement in 1964, many hoped that the playing field was finally becoming more level. Unfortunately, it would be nineteen more years before another black actor won an Academy Award.

Halle Berry and Denzel Washington with their Oscars at the 2002 Academy Awards Ceremony

Several black actors and one black actress won Oscars for supporting roles in the 1980s and 1990s, however none won for a leading role again until the 2002 Academy Awards. In that year, African Americans actually won both of the top acting awards. Halle Berry became the first African American woman to win the Best Actress award for her performance in Monster's Ball (2001), and after being nominated twice before for a leading role, Malcolm X (1992) and The Hurricane (1999), Denzel Washington finally won for his portrayal of a dirty cop in Training Day (2001).

The 2002 Academy Awards also featured an Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award given to Sidney Poitier. With three Oscars awarded to black actors, some declared that discrimination in the movie industry was a thing of the past and that African Americans had finally made it, while others maintained that progress was being made but there were still too many obstacles for people of color to overcome.

Is Hollywood still conducting business in black and white, or is green the predominant color of the Film Industry? In other words, does the image of African Americans that Hollywood most frequently presents reflect what makes the most money with national and international audiences? If so, what can be done to combat this problem in order to secure more worthwhile roles for black actors and actresses and projects for black filmmakers?

We encourage you to make up your own mind by taking a look at the articles, books, websites, and films listed at the bottom of this web page.

Black Academy Award Winners:

Hattie McDaniel, Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Gone With the Wind (1939).
James Baskett, Honorary Award "for his able and heart-warming characterization of Uncle Remus, friend and story teller to the children of the world in Walt Disney's Song of the South" (1946). [awarded at the 1948 Academy Awards Ceremony]
Sidney Poitier, Best Actor in a Leading Role for Lilies of the Field (1963).
Isaac Hayes, Best Music, Original Song for "Theme from Shaft" from Shaft (1971).
Louis Gossett, Jr., Best Actor in a Supporting Role for An Officer and a Gentleman (1982).
Irene Cara, Best Music, Original Song for "Flashdance...What a Feeling" from Flashdance (1983).
Prince, Best Music, Original Song Score for Purple Rain (1984).
Stevie Wonder, Best Music, Original Song for "I Just Called to Say I Loved You" from The Woman in Red (1984).
Lionel Richie, Best Music, Original Song for "Say You, Say Me" from White Nights (1985).
Herbie Hancock, Best Music, Original Score for 'Round Midnight (1986).
Willie D. Burton, Best Sound for Bird (1988) [shared with Les Fresholtz, Rick Alexander, and Vern Poore].
Denzel Washington, Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Glory (1989).
Russell Williams II, Best Sound for Glory (1989) [shared with Donald O. Mitchell, Gregg Rudloff, and Elliot Tyson].
Whoopi Goldberg, Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Ghost (1990).
Russell Williams II, Best Sound for Dances With Wolves (1990) [shared with Jeffrey Perkins, Bill W. Benton, and Gregory H. Watkins].
Quincy Jones, 1995 Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
Cuba Gooding, Jr., Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Jerry Maguire (1996).
Halle Berry, Best Actress in a Leading Role for Monster's Ball (2001).
Denzel Washington, Best Actor in a Leading Role for Training Day (2001).
Sidney Poitier, Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award "for his extraordinary performances and unique presence on the screen and for representing the industry with dignity, style and intelligence." [awarded at the 2002 Academy Awards Ceremony]

Update -- African American winners since this page was first published:

Jamie Foxx, Best Actor in a Leading Role for Ray (2004).
Morgan Freeman, Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Jordan Houston, Cedric Coleman, and Paul Beauregard [aka Three 6 Mafia], Best Music, Original Song for "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" from Hustle & Flow (2005).
Forest Whitaker, Best Actor in a Leading Role for The Last King of Scotland (2006).
Jennifer Hudson, Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Dreamgirls (2006).
Willie D. Burton, Best Achievement in Sound Mixing for Dreamgirls (2006) [shared with Michael Minkler and Bob Beemer].

Here are some resources for learning more about African Americans and the Academy Awards:

Documentary Film:
- America Beyond the Color Line with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2004), A BBC and PBS production. [see part 4, "Los Angeles: Black Hollywood"]
Websites:
- The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
- B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Library at Long Island University: African-Americans in Motion Pictures: The Past and Present.
Articles/Books:
- Casanova, Tara. Blackflix.com . "Oscar Wild: Oscar breaks racial barrier!".
- Collier, Aldore. "The Oscars in Black and White: African American actors and the Academy Awards, " Ebony. April 2000. [includes a list of African Americans nominated for Academy Awards]
- Gates, Henry Louis Jr. America Behind the Color Line: Dialogues with African Americans. New York:Warner Books, 2004.
- Goodale, Gloria. "Controversy Hits Oscars Even Before Envelopes Opened," Christian Science Monitor. 3/25/96, Vol. 88, Issue 82.
- Hughes, Zondra. "Has Hollywood Really Changed?," Ebony. June 2002, Vol. 57, Issue 8.
- Kaplan, Erin Aubry. "Hollywood Babble-On," Crisis (The New). May/June 2002, Vol. 109, Issue 3.
- Mapp, Edward. African Americans and the Oscar: Seven Decades of Struggle and Achievement. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2003.
- McCluskey, Audrey. "The 2004 Academy Awards: Black Oscar Nominees Break the Mold," February 2005.
- Modleski, Tania. "In Hollywood, Racist Stereotypes Can Still Earn Oscar Nominations," Chronicle of Higher Education. 3/17/2000, Vol. 46, Issue 28.
- Simpson, Tyrone. "Hollywood Bait and Switch: The 2002 Oscars, Black Commodification, and Black Political Science (Part One)," Black Camera. Fall/Winter 2002, Vol.17, no.2.
- Simpson, Tyrone. "Hollywood Bait and Switch: The 2002 Oscars, Black Commodification, and Black Political Science (Part Two)," Black Camera. Spring/Summer 2003, Vol. 18, no. 1.