Black Oscar Winners Before 1990

Even now it is clear that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has some progress to make with regards to diversity. A prime example of this is the In Memoriam segment of the recently held 91st Academy Awards. Aretha Franklin, who may well have been the single biggest name to die last year, was omitted from the In Memoriam segment, despite having appeared in several movies. Mexican American actress Vanessa Marquez was left out of the In Memoriam segment despite a petition with 8700 signatures encouraging the Academy to include her, as well as numerous letters, phone calls,and emails. Sadly, despite several people of colour that could have been included in the In Memoriam segment, it seemed to be primarily filled with white faces.

Of course, it must be admitted that the Academy has made progress in the past few years. This was the first time in Oscars history that the majority of Oscars in the acting categories went to people of colour. People of colour won other major awards as well. The incredible Ruth Carter won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for Black Panther (2018), becoming the first African American woman to ever win in that category. Legendary director Spike Lee won the award for Best Adapted Screenplay for BlacKkKlansman (2018), his first ever Oscar win. Over the years blacks, in particular, have made great strides with regards to the Academy Awards. Unfortunately this has been the result of a very slow process that has taken literally decades.

The first ever African American to win an Oscar was also the first ever African American ever nominated. At the 12th Academy Awards in 1940, Hattie McDaniel won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for Gone with the Wind. Sadly, Miss McDaniel was not treated with the respect one would expect of an Oscar nominated actress. The 12th Academy Awards ceremony was held at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. At the time the Cocoanut Grove did not allow blacks, so that producer David O. Selznick had to petition the nightclub for Hattie McDaniel to be allowed to attend the awards. To make matters worse, Miss McDaniel was not permitted to sit at the Gone with the Wind table alongside her white co-stars, but was instead taken to a small table against a wall where she sat with her date F.P. Yober, and her white agent, William Meiklejohn.

It would literally be years before another black actor won an Oscar. It was in 1964 that Sir Sidney Poitier became the first black man to win the Academy Award for Best Actor at the 36th Academy Awards and only the second black actor to win an Academy Award . It was for his role as Homer Smith in Lillies of the Field (1963). Fortunately, Mr. Poitier was treated much better in 1964 than Hattie McDaniel had been in 1940. Sir Sidney Poitier would later win  a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.

Even after Sir Sidney Poitier won an Oscar in 1964, it would be several years before another black artist would win an Academy Award. At the 44th Academy Awards in 1972, Isaac Hayes won the Oscar for Best Original Song for  the "Theme from Shaft".  It would be over ten years before another African American would win an Oscar. It was at the 55th Academy Awards in 1983 that Louis Gossett Jr. became the first male African American to win the award for Best Supporting Actor. It was for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in An Officer and a Gentleman (1982). To go off topic a bit, it was for the same movie that Buffy Sainte-Marie became the first indigenous woman to win an Academy Award. It was for Best Original Song for "Up Where We Belong". She shared the award with co-writers Jack Nitzsche and Will Jennings.

The Eighties would finally see a good deal of progress for black artists with regards to the Oscars. In 1984, at the 56th Academy Awards, Irene Cara became the first black woman to win the Oscar for Best Original Song for "Flashdance..What a Feeling" for the movie Flashdance (1983), an award that she shared with her co-writers Giorgio Moroder and Keith Forsey. In 1985, at the 57th Academy Awards, Stevie Wonder won Best Song for "I Just Called to Say I Love You" from The Woman in Red (1984). That same year Prince won the Oscar for Best Original Song Score for Purple Rain (1984). In 1986 Lionel Ritchie won the award for Best Original Song for "Say You, Say Me" from the movie White Nights (1985). In 1987 Herbie Hancock became the first African American to win the Oscar for Best Original Score, which he won for the movie Round Midnight (1986). In 1989 Willie D. Burton became the first black winner of the Oscar for Best Sound, sharing the award with Les Fresholtz, Dick Alexander, and Vern Poore for the movie Bird (1988). Mr. Burton would win the award a second time in 2007 for the movie Dreamgirls (2006). The year 1990 would see two more black artists win, both for the movie Glory (1989). Denzel Washington won Best Supporting Actor for the movie and later won for Best Actor for Training Day (2001) in 2002. Russell Williams III won Best Sound for Glory, sharing the award with Donald O. Mitchell, Gregg Rudloff, and Elliot Tyson.

Since the Nineties several black actors and other artists have won Oscars, showing great progress since the Golden Age of Hollywood when Hattie McDaniel was the only black person to ever win an Academy Award and was not even permitted to sit at the same table as her co-stars. Sadly, such strides have not been made for other groups of ethnicities. Merle Oberon (who was part Indian and part Maori) remains the only Asian to ever be nominated for Best Actress. No one of Asian descent has ever been nominated for Best Actor. The Academy has a similarly poor track record with regards to Latinos, Edward James Olmos remaining the only Latino to ever be nominated for Best Actor. The Academy has an ever worse track record with regards to the indigenous peoples of North America. To this day Chief Dan George and Graham Greene remain the only male Natives nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Chief Dan George for Little Big Man and Graham Greene for Dances with Wolves). Yalitza Aparicio is the only indigenous woman nominated for Best Actress, for the movie Roma. While the Academy has made great strides with regards to diversity, it is clear that they have much further to go.