Hattie McDaniel, born June 10, 1895, is best known for being the first African American to snatch an Oscar in 1940, for her  supporting role as Mammy in Gone With the Wind. Yet, all of the film’s black actors, including McDaniel, were barred from attending the film’s premiere in 1939.

McDaniel started professionally singing, dancing and performing skits in shows as part of The Mighty Minstrels. In 1911, she married pianist Howard Hickman and went on to organize an all-women’s minstrel show.

Through the mid-1940s, McDaniel appeared in additional films, primarily playing roles that members of the post-war progressive black community were beginning to cite as offensively old-fashioned. Since playing Mom Beck in The Little Colonel, McDaniel had been attacked by the media for taking parts that perpetuated a negative stereotype of blacks; she was criticized for playing servants and slaves who were seemingly content to retain their role as such.