Hattie McDaniel

With a Best Supporting Actress win for her performance as Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939), Hattie McDaniel was the first Black actor to be nominated for and win an Oscar. At the ceremony, held at the segregated Cocoanut Grove, McDaniel and her escort were seated at a separate table from her castmates. Despite McDaniel’s accomplishment in breaking this boundary relatively early in Hollywood’s history, very few Black performers or filmmakers have been nominated for or received Oscars since then.

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Photograph of Hattie McDaniel

Hattie McDaniel

With a Best Supporting Actress win for her performance as Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939), Hattie McDaniel was the first Black actor to be nominated for and win an Oscar. At the ceremony, held at the segregated Cocoanut Grove, McDaniel and her escort were seated at a separate table from her castmates. Despite McDaniel’s accomplishment in breaking this boundary relatively early in Hollywood’s history, very few Black performers or filmmakers have been nominated for or received Oscars since then.

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Dorothy Dandridge

1922-1965Actor

Was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Carmen Jones in 1954, the first Black woman nominated for the Leading Role category.

Sidney Poitier

1927-2022Actor

Was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role for The Defiant Ones in 1958, won Best Actor in a Leading Role for Lilies of the Field in 1963, the first Black man to win a competitive award. He received an Academy Honorary Award in 2001.

Diahann Carroll

1935-2019Actor

Was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Claudine in 1974.

Ethel Waters

1896-1977Singer

Was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Pinky in 1949.

Juanita Moore

1914-2014Actor

Was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Imitation of Life in 1959.

Ruby Dee

1922-2014Actor

Was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for American Gangster in 2007

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington

1899-1974Musician

Was nominated for Best Music, Original Score for Paris Blues in 1961.

Harry Belafonte

1927-2023Actor

Received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 2014.