History Made Every Day™

Triumph in Hollywood

The history of African Americans in Hollywood began at a low point—the first bonafide blockbuster, D.W. Griffiths’ Birth of a Nation (1915), glorified white supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan—and continued in that vein for years, with black characters portrayed onscreen largely limited to maids, butlers, slaves and other relatively demeaning roles. In 1940, Hattie McDaniel became the first African–American performer to win an Academy Award (the film industry’s highest honor) for her portrayal of a loyal slave governess in Gone With the Wind. After World War II, more talented black performers built careers that spanned music, stage and screen, including Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, Dorothy Dandridge (who earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for 1954’s Carmen Jones), Sammy Davis Jr. and Harry Belafonte. The most celebrated of these was Sidney Poitier, who became the first black Best Actor winner (for 1964’s Lilies of the Field). The 74th annual Academy Awards, in March 2002, marked the greatest Oscar triumph in history for African–American performers. Halle Berry, star of Monster’s Ball, took home the statuette in the Best Actress category (the first black actress to do so), while Denzel Washington (a winner in the Best Supporting Actor category for 1989’s Civil War drama Glory, about the heroic all–black 54th Massachusetts regiment) became the first black actor since Poitier to win an Oscar for Best Actor, for Training Day. In her emotional acceptance speech, Berry called the moment —so much bigger than me. This moment is for&.every nameless faceless woman of color that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened.”