May 16th, 1929 marked the first Annual Academy Awards also known as the Oscars. This March, the Oscars celebrated their 90th Annual Awards Ceremony. Within the 90 years of celebrating excellence in the American film industry, there have been only 34 Black Oscar Winners. Back in 2015 and 2016 the Twitter hashtag #Oscarssowhite brought a lot of attention to the public because of the lack of diversity in nominations of Black actors, actresses, cinematographers, musicians, and directors at the Oscars. Nonetheless, here are the Black Oscar winners from 1939 to 2018.
1940: Hattie McDaniel, Gone with the Wind (Best Supporting Actress)Hattie McDaniel was the first African-American/ African-American female to win an Oscar in 1940 for her portrayal of "Mammy". Because of segregation at this time, she was not allowed to sit at the same table as her co-stars from Gone with the Wind. She had to sit at a separate table in the back. In addition, special hotel accommodations were made for McDaniel because hotels had strict "no blacks" polices, and she celebrated her win elsewhere as clubs were segregated also.
2. 1964: Sidney Poitier, Lilies of the Field (Best Actor) Over 20 years later, the next Black actor to win and an Oscar was Sidney Poitier. He was the first African-American male to win an Oscar.
3. 1972: Isaac Hayes, Shaft (Best Original Song, "Theme from Shaft")
4. 1983: Louis Gossett, Jr., An Officer and a Gentleman (Best Supporting Actor)As you can see, there a time gap of 8 years between the 2nd and 3rd Black Oscar winner, and 10 years between the 3rd and 4th Oscars winners.
5. 1984: Irene Cara, Flashdance (Best Original Song, "Flashdance… What a Feeling")
6. 1985: Prince, Purple Rain (Best Original Score); (Best Original Musical)Prince was the first African-American to win Best Original Score.
7. 1985: Stevie Wonder, The Woman in Red (Best Original Song, "I Just Called to Say I Love You")
8. 1986: Lionel Richie, White Nights (Best Original Song, "Say You, Say Me")
9. 1986: Herbie Hancock, Round Midnight (Best Original Score)
10. 1989: Willie D. Burton, Bird (Best Sound Mixing); 2007: Dreamgirls (Best Sound Mixing)
11. 1990: Denzel Washington, Glory (Best Supporting Actor); 2002: Training Day (Best Actor)
12. 1990: Whoopi Goldberg, Ghost (Best Supporting Actress)13. 1990: Russell Williams, Glory (Best Sound Mixing); 1991: Dances with Wolves (Best Sound Mixing)
14. 1997: Cuba Gooding, Jr., Jerry Maguire (Best Supporting Actor)
15. 2002: Halle Berry, Monster's Ball (Best Actress)Halle Berry was the first and is still the only Black actress to have won Best Actress.
16. 2005: Morgan Freeman, Million Dollar Baby (Best Supporting Actor)
17. 2005: Jamie Foxx, Ray (Best Actor)
18. 2006: Three 6 Mafia, Hustle & Flow (Best Original Song, "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp")
19. 2007: Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland (Best Actor)
20. 2007: Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls (Best Supporting Actress)
21. 2010: Roger Ross Williams, Music By Prudence (Best Documentary Short Subject)
22. 2010: Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious (Best Adapted Screenplay)
23. 2010: Mo'Nique, Precious (Best Supporting Actress)
24. 2012: Octavia Spencer, The Help (Best Supporting Actress)
25. 2012: T.J. Martin, co-director, Undefeated (Best Documentary Feature)
26: 2014: Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave (Best Supporting Actress)
27. 2014: John Ridley, 12 Years a Slave (Best Adapted Screenplay)
28. 2014: Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave (Best Picture)
29. 2015: Common and John Legend, Selma (Best Original Song, "Glory")
30. 2016: Mahershala Ali, Moonlight (Best Supporting Actor)Ali is the first Muslim actor to win an Oscar.
31. 2017: Viola Davis, Fences (Best Supporting Actress)
32. 2018: Jordan Peele, Get Out (Best Original Screenplay)Jordan Peele is the first African-American to win Best Original Screenplay.
33. 2018: Kobe Bryant, Dear Basketball (Best Animated Short Film)Kobe Bryant is the first African-American to win an Oscar in the category of Best Animated Short Film.
As with everything, there has been a lot of progress made from 1940 until now with diversity and inclusion at the Oscars; however, there is still room for improvement, and there is more work that needs to be done.
This is a part of The Excellence Series.