On February 29, 1940, at the 12th Academy Awards, Hattie McDaniel made history by becoming the first African American to receive an Oscar.
She won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for playing “Mammy” in Gone with the Wind, the 1939 epic that also became the first color film to take home Best Picture.
For many readers tracing the timeline of black Oscar winners, her win is the moment the door first cracked open for actors and actresses who had been locked out of Hollywood’s biggest honors.
