Hattie McDaniel changed history with her Oscar for Gone With the Wind.
It elevated her to a symbol of racial progress but made her a pariah to much of Black America.
McDaniel’s own career floundered.
Hattie McDaniel.Kobal/Shutterstock
Black audiences criticized her for perpetuating negative stereotypes, and white filmmakers cast her only in domestic-servant roles.
In reality, McDaniel was far more complex.
Her domestics were more opinionated and defiant than most at the time.
Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images
It was that brashness that made McDaniel a long shot for the role of Mammy.
Within a few years, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and died at 59.
As for her Oscar?
“We hold the hope that we’ll find it someday,” Carter says.
“Not so much because of Hattie McDaniel, but because the Oscar really represents Black America overall.
It represents the experience of being shut out for such a long time.”
