Photo of the Week: Hattie McDaniel Receives Oscar

"I sincerely hope I shall always be a credit to my race and to the motion picture industry. My heart is too full to tell you just how I feel, and may I say thank you and God bless you."

At the 12th Academy Awards on the  29th of Febraury, 1940, Hattie McDaniel became the first African American to win an Oscar. McDaniel won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar Award  for her role as Mammy in "Gone With The Wind", beating Olivia De Haviland who played Melanie Hamilton Wilkes, 

Geraldine Fitzgerald who played Isabella Linton in "Wuthering Heights", 

Edna May Oliver wno played Mrs McKlennar in "Drums Along the Mohawk" and Maria Ouspenskaya who played Grandma Janou in "Love Affair". 

McDaniel received both praise and backlash for her frequent roles of playing maids, her answer... "I’d rather make $700 a week playing a maid than earn $7 a day being a maid."