Hattie McDaniel’s Oscar: Honoring a Trailblazing Legacy

More than seventy years after his death, his last wish will finally be granted. In 1940, Hattie McDaniel became the first black actress to win an Academy Award, for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Mamma in the film Gone with the windby Victor Fleming. “It’s very humbling to me and I will always use it as a beacon for everything I may do in the future.”she declared in her acceptance speech upon receiving her precious statuette, before adding: “I sincerely hope that I will always bring honor to my race and the film industry. My heart is too full to tell you how I feel. Let me thank you and say God bless you.”

In 1952, Hattie McDaniel died of breast cancer at the age of 57. In her last will and testament, she said she wanted to be buried in Hollywood Cemetery, the resting place of many movie stars, and had also bequeathed her Oscar to Howard University in Washington. Unfortunately, none of them were made after his disappearance. The first, because at the time Hollywood Forever Cemetery practiced racial segregation. The second, because the statuette was lost, or would even have been sold to repay his creditors at the time of his inheritance. However, on October 1, this last wish of the actress will finally be honored.

What will this new Oscar look like?

Indeed, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures announced in a press release that the lost Oscar will indeed be replaced and bequeathed to the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts of the Howard University in Washington. “Hattie McDaniel was a revolutionary artist who changed the course of cinema and influenced generations of artists who followed her. We are excited to present a replacement for Hattie McDaniel’s Academy Award at Howard University. This exceptional occasion will celebrate the remarkable work of Hattie McDaniel and her historic victory”, said Bill Kramer, executive director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. For her part, actress Phylicia Rashad, dean of the university, clarified that “this historic piece will serve as an inspiration to our students”.

A decision just as historic as Hattie McDaniel’s victory, since, until then, the Academy of Oscars had never agreed to remake a statuette, even a lost one. For many years, she even categorically refused to cast a new one in homage to the actress, ensuring that the original one had indeed been given to Howard University, and that after being exhibited at the Department of drama for ten years, it had been returned to the McDaniel family. It now remains to be seen what the appearance of this Oscar will be, the design of the statuette having changed since 1940. When she received hers at the time, the actress was entitled to a plaque on which her category and category were engraved. his name, next to a reduced format of the Oscars being awarded today. An award which was reserved for best actress and best supporting actor.