as a baby. And despite her father’s service in the Army, the Government refused his pension several times. On one occasion, his claim was denied on the grounds he could not prove his exact age. “It is impossible for me to furnish a record of my birth,” he replied, “I was a slave.”
They had a hard life, but the McDaniel family was full of natural talent, so their small rented house was always filled with song and dance. Hattie’s brother Otis was a particularly skilled dancer, and was determined to change his family’s situation. He and his brother Sam, along with some friends, started performing as the Cakewalk Kids, hiring themselves out for community functions and white society dances. The Cakewalk was a dance move originally created by slaves poking fun at their white masters, but it had become a popular trend around the country.
Hattie would sometimes perform in their shows, and she drew praise for her singing and satirical skits. Often, she poked fun at the “Mammy” stereotype, but ironically, this was the very role which would make her famous later on.
When she was fifteen, Hattie took part in a drama competition. This is a moment she always pointed to as being life-altering. She performed an emotional rendition of the poem Convict Joe, a story of a husband who kills his wife during a drunken rage. As she finished, she was in tears, and the crowd erupted in applause, rising to their feet. Hattie won the Gold Medal, and said later this win gave her an indescribable feeling of happiness and the knowledge that performing was her destiny.
In the early 1930s, after a brief stint as a blues singer, Hattie moved to Los Angeles. There, she met casting agent Charles Butler, one of the few black people working behind the scenes in Hollywood. He was hired by Central Casting as “head of all Negro employment,” and his job involved going into black neighborhoods to search for African-Americans who could fill small roles in Hollywood movies.
This was a conflicting prospect for many black actors, because while Butler was able to get employment and money for the community, he was seen as working for a racist structure, which would only hire actors for the background or as stereotypes.
That’s what happened to Hattie, who was hired by Charles for $7.50 a week. She began to be cast in movies, always small, subservient roles. But with each and every part, Hattie found a way to make them her own. This was how she rebelled against the system. These characters were meant to be hidden in the background, but Hattie made sure she was seen.
Her success wasn’t always welcomed by the black community. Some actors, like Clarence Muse, recognized her talent, but organizations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) criticized Hattie for taking on demeaning characters and being used by Hollywood to further racism.
In the mid-1930s, Hollywood was excited by the news that producer David O. Selznick was making an epic film adaptation of Gone with the Wind. The racist tone of the book was a concern for the NAACP, but because of its size, the role of Mammy was seen as a good prospect for African-American actresses.
Casting was a big process, and everyone wanted a say as to who should play Mammy. Producer David O. Selznick received hundreds of letters from all different people in Hollywood, vouching for which actress they thought would make the best Mammy. One he received was from Bing Crosby, who wrote, “Being loath to go down in history as the only citizen not sticking my nose into the casting of Gone with the Wind, I would like to suggest a Mammy.” Bing said he didn’t know her name, but there was a “little lady” who he had worked with on ‘Showboat’ who “would be a cinch,” and suggested David ask the casting office for her name. He was referring to Hattie McDaniel, and David wrote back, “thanks for the suggestion, and also for not wanting to play Scarlett.” Soon Hattie was called in to test for the role of Mammy and when her audition was over, David knew he had found the one.
Prior to shooting Gone with the Wind, Hattie and Clark Gable had become friends. He was the dashing actor who had had great success a few years earlier with his film It Happened One Night. During the filming of Gone with the Wind he was a friend to the black actors on set, determined to use his power to make sure there was no discrimination or segregation. Once, he saw a row of toilets for the cast labeled “Whites” and “Coloreds” and got incredibly upset, saying if the signs were not taken down, they would need to find a new Rhett Butler.
On set, Hattie was known for entertaining the cast with jokes and songs, but as soon as the camera rolled, Hattie transformed. There’s one pivotal scene towards the end of the movie where Mammy is telling the character of Melanie about Rhett’s grief after losing his child. It’s a short scene, but extremely powerful and Hattie shows the kind of dramatic emotion that black actors almost never had the chance to play in their small roles at this time.
After that scene, the cast and crew were in awe. Olivia de Havilland had hoped to win Best Supporting Actress for her role as Melanie, but later said that at that moment, she knew it would belong to Hattie. “That scene probably won Hattie her Oscar,” she said, “and almost broke my heart too—at least at the time.”
When production had wrapped, David O. Selznick wrote a letter to thank Hattie for her work, saying, “I think you will find it is universally acclaimed as one of the finest performances of this or any other year.” The press agreed, with Variety pointing to that emotional scene, saying, “Time will set a mark on this moment in the picture as one of those inspirational bits of histrionics long remembered.” And the Los Angeles Times praised Hattie as “worthy of academy supporting awards.”
The film held its big premiere in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1939, but Hattie McDaniel and her co-star Butterfly McQueen were not allowed to attend. The city enforced the Jim Crow rule of segregation on the theater, and they even deleted her image from the program, so it only showed pictures of the white cast.
All the positive reviews for Hattie McDaniel in Gone with the Wind led to David O. Selznick pushing for a Best Supporting Actress nomination. The win was historic, with Hattie McDaniel becoming the first African-American to get an Academy Award. She was proud of her achievement and genuinely thought this win would change things. Hattie was sure this would lead to more substantial roles, but unfortunately, she was never offered the breakthrough part she hoped for. “It was as if I had done something wrong,” Hattie said in 1944.
Overall, Hattie had roles in an estimated 300 movies, but only received screen credit for about 80 of them. And 74 of those were subservient roles. She gave her Oscar to Howard University, but it was deemed “valueless” by appraisers and went missing in the early 1970s, never to be recovered.
Hattie McDaniel had another moment of success in 1947 as the voice of “Beulah” in a popular radio play. This turned into a TV show in the early 1950s, but Hattie was only able to shoot six episodes before she fell ill from cancer. When she died, Hattie’s final wish was to be buried at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where many celebrities were laid to rest. She was denied, once again due to segregation.
There were seventy years between the Oscar wins of Hattie McDaniel and actress Mo’Nique. Mo’Nique took the stage in a blue dress and gardenias, as an homage to Hattie’s outfit from the 1940 ceremony. In her speech, Mo’Nique thanked Hattie for “enduring all that she had to, so that I would not have to.”
In her own Oscar speech, Hattie McDaniel said her greatest hope was to “always be a credit to my race and the motion picture industry.” She was supposed to be subservient, but she refused. Hollywood gave her an inch, and she made it an award-winning mile. And in doing so, she made that hope come true.
Anna May Wong: Erasure and Exoticism
For many American audiences watching movies in the 1920s, their first experience seeing an Asian-American star was through the work of Anna May Wong. She was a silent film actress who defied expectations by making the transition to talking pictures, and along the way, became a popular star in Europe.
Anna May was born Liu Tsong Wong in 1905, which translates to “frosted yellow