The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will present Howard University Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts with a replacement of actor Hattie McDaniel’s Best Supporting Actress Academy Award®. On October 1, 2023 in a ceremony entitled “Hattie’s Come Home” at Howard’s Ira Aldridge Theater in Washington, D.C., the life and legacy of Ms. McDaniel will be celebrated and her Academy Award will, once again, be placed on display at the university.
The award, won by McDaniel in 1940, was showcased at the University’s drama department, per the McDaniel’s wishes upon her death in 1952. Unfortunately, the award disappeared in the 1960’s. Iconic actress Hattie McDaniel made history as the first Black actor to be nominated for and to win an Academy Award for her supporting performance as “Mammy” in Gone with the Wind (1939). The award was presented to McDaniel at the segregated 12th Academy Awards ceremony where McDaniel and her guest were seated separately from the film’s other nominees. A performer on stage, radio and screen, McDaniel appeared in some 300 films throughout her career.
“When I was a student in the College of Fine Arts at Howard University, in what was then called the Department of Drama, I would often sit and gaze in wonder at the Academy Award that had been presented to Ms. Hattie McDaniel, which she had gifted to the College of Fine Arts,” said actress Phylicia Rashad who is the current Dean of the Howard University Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts. “I am overjoyed that this Academy Award is returning to what is now the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts at Howard University. This immense piece of history will be back in the College of Fine Arts for our students to draw inspiration from. Ms. Hattie is coming home!”
“Hattie McDaniel was a groundbreaking artist who changed the course of cinema and impacted generations of performers who followed her. We are thrilled to present a replacement of Hattie McDaniel’s Academy Award to Howard University,” said Dr. Jacqueline Stewart, Director and President of the Academy Museum and Academy and Academy CEO Bill Kramer. “This momentous occasion will celebrate Hattie McDaniel’s remarkable craft and historic win.”
The event on October 1 will include opening remarks by Rashad, a presentation of the award to the university by Executive Vice President of Oscars Strategy Teni Melidonian, a conversation about McDaniel’s career moderated by Stewart, along with Greg Carr, Ph.D., Howard University Associate Professor of Africana Studies and Chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies; Rhea Combs, Ph.D., Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery; Kevin John Goff, filmmaker, actor and Hattie McDaniel’s great-grandnephew; Khalid Long, Ph.D., Howard University Associate Professor of Theatre Arts, author, director and dramaturg; and Rashad.
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McDaniel’s acceptance speech can currently be viewed in full in the museum’s Academy Awards History Gallery, and, notably, her win is recognized in the Oscars Gallery of statuettes, but through a vitrine that stands empty.
Here is McDaniel’s speech:
“Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science[s], fellow members of the motion picture industry and honored guests. This is one of the happiest moments of my life, and I want to thank each one of you who had a part in selecting me for one of the awards for your kindness. It has made me feel very, very humble and I shall always hold it as a beacon for anything I may be able to do in the future. 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.”
For more information check out:
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at oscars.org
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures at academymuseum.org Howard University at howard.edu
