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Hattie McDaniel, 1940, Oscar For Best Supporting Actress
McDaniel won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role of Mammy in the 1939 film “Gone With The Wind,” making her the first black actor, male or female, to win an Academy Award. Five other black actresses have won this Oscar since McDaniel’s landmark achievement: Whoopi Goldberg in 1991 for “Ghost,” Jennifer Hudson in 2007 for “Dreamgirls,” Monique in 2010 for “Precious,” Octavia Spencer in 2012 for “The Help,” and Lupita Nyongo in 2014 for “12 Years A Slave.”
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Dorothy Dandridge, 1955, Oscar Nomination For Best Actress In A Leading Role
Fifteen years after McDaniel’s Supporting Actress win, Dorothy Dandridge became the first black actress nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Actress in a Leading Role category for her titular performance in the musical “Carmen Jones” in 1955.
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Sidney Poitier, 1964, Academy Award For Best Actor In A Leading Role
In 1964, Poitier’s performance as a handyman in “Lilies of the Field” made him the first black actor to receive the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Since Poitier’s historic win, now more than 50 years ago, only three other black men have received an Academy Award in this category: Denzel Washington in 2002 for “Training Day,” Jamie Foxx in 2005 for “Ray,” and Forest Whitaker in 2007 for “The Last King of Scotland.”
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Diahann Carroll, 1963, Emmy Nomination
Diahann Carroll played a single mother and nurse in “Julia,” which was the first primetime series with a black female lead. Although Carroll did not win an Emmy for her performance in “Julia,” she was the first black person, male or female, to ever be nominated for an Emmy for her guest role on “Naked City” in 1963. Carroll’s career pioneered opportunities for other shows to feature black actors in non-stereotypical roles but as lead characters.
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“Star Trek,” 1968, First Interracial Kiss
In 1968 the futuristic epic saga “Star Trek” featured the first televised interracial kiss between Nichelle Nichols, Uhura, and William Shatner, Captain Kirk. Although this scene did not air without controversy, it was still progressive for the time — one year after Supreme Court ruled that state bans on interracial marriage were unconstitutional in Loving v. Virginia.
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Isaac Hayes, 1972, Oscar For Best Original Song
“Theme from Shaft” composer Isaac Hayes was the first black person to win a non-acting Academy Award for his work on the 1972 film “Shaft,” as well as the first winner in the Best Original Song category.
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“Live And Let Die,” 1973, Black Bond Girl
American actress Gloria Hendry played Rosie Carver, the first black Bond Girl, alongside British actor Roger Moore as secret agent James Bond in 1973’s “Live and Let Die.” Since then there have been other black Bond Girls such as Grace Jones as May Day in 1985’s “A View To A Kill” and Halle Berry as Jinx Johnson in 2002’s “Die Another Day.”
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Suzanne de Passe, 1972, Oscar Nominee For Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
In 1972 de Passe received her historic nomination for “Lady Sings The Blues” starring Diana Ross as Billie Holiday. de Passe is one of three other black writers to be nominated the others are Spike Lee for 1989’s “Do The Right Thing” and John Singleton for 1991’s “Boyz N The Hood.”
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Cicely Tyson, 1974, Primetime Emmy Award
Cicely Tyson was the first black actress to win a primetime Emmy her role in “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” for Actress of The Year, Special. Her second Emmy, for the same role, was Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama for a Special Program.
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“The Jeffersons,” 1975, Interracial Couple
Actor and Actress, Franklin Clover and Roxie Roker, portrayed TV’s first interracial couple, Tom and Helen Willis on the “Jeffersons.” The couple was a trailblazer for shows to feature interracial romances and blended families as something that was normal.
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BET, 1979, First Black Owned TV Network
In 1979 Robert L. Johnson started Black Entertainment Television (BET), the first black owned TV network and media empire. Although Viacom bought BET, in 2000 for more than $2 billion, Johnson still remained as chairman and chief executive of BET until 2005 when he gave the position to Debra Lee.
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Isabel Sanford, 1981, Emmy For Outstanding Lead Actress In a Comedy Series
Sanford’s iconic performance as Louise “Weezy” Jefferson on the “Jeffersons” made her the first, and so far only, black woman to win an Emmy in this category. Out of 253 total nominations for this award, only three other black actresses have ever been nominated: Diahann Carroll, Nell Carter, and Phylicia Rashad–the last being in 1986.
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Louis Gossett Jr., 1983, Academy Award For Best Actor In A Supporting Role
Gossett received the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor Award for his acting talents in “Officer and a Gentleman,” which made him the first black actor to do so. He’s spoken about the lack of acting opportunities he’s had as a black actor even after his historic win. In 2013 he told The Root, “I never got a million dollars for any movie I did in 60 years.” Since his win there have been three other black actors to win an Oscar in this category, Denzel Washington in 1990 for Glory, Cuba Gooding Jr. in 1997 for Jerry Maguire, and Morgan Freeman in 2005 for Million Dollar Baby.
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Prince, 1985, Oscar For Best Original Score
Prince took home an Oscar for Best Original Score, an award that requires writing five songs or more for a film, at the 57th Academy Awards in 1985 for the movie “Purple Rain.”
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Oprah Winfrey, 1986, Daytime Television Host
In 1986 Oprah pioneered the field of daytime television when she became the first black woman to have her own talk show. In 1998 she won the Daytime Emmy’s Lifetime Achievement award for her extensive contributions to the field of media.
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John Singleton, 1992, Oscar Nomination For Best Director
At the age of 24 in 1992, John Singleton became the youngest person and first black director to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Director for “Boyz N The Hood.” There has never been a black director to receive an Academy award in this category, and thus far only two other people have been nominated: Lee Daniels in 2009 for “Precious” and Steve McQueen in 2013 for “12 Years a Slave.”
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Whoopi Goldberg,1994, First Individual Black Host Of The Oscars
The Oscars are as much about the host as they are about the awards. In the Academy Awards’ 87 year history there have been 75 celebrity hosts, but only five have been black. Whoopi Goldberg would be the first black person to host the awards without a co-host in 1994, and Chris Rock the second in 2005. Other black celebrities that co-hosted in the past include Sammy Davis Jr. in 1972, Diana Ross in 1974, and Richard Pryor in 1977.
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Halle Berry, 2002, Oscar For Best Actress In A Leading Role
In 2002 — 47 years after Dorothy Dandridge became the first black actress nominated for an Academy Award in a leading role category– Berry became the first, and so far the only, black woman to win the award. During her acceptance speech she thanked other black actresses that preceded her and mentioned her hope for black women in film for the future. “This moment is so much bigger than me,” Berry said, accepting the award for her performance in “Monster’s Ball.” “And it’s for every nameless, faceless woman of color that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened.”
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Anika Noni Rose, 2009, Disney’s Princess Tiana
Anika Noni Rose is the proud voice behind Princess Tiana who is the first, and thus far only, black member of the highly successful Disney Princess franchise. Rose’s landmark performance in “The Princess and the Frog” was an important representation of a black woman in a lead role in an iconic children’s movie.
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Geoffrey Fletcher, 2010, Oscar For Best Adapted Screenplay
In 2010, Geoffrey Fletcher was the first black writer to win an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for “Precious,” based on the novel “Push” by Sapphire. Four years later, John Ridley became the second black writer to receive this award for his adaptation of “12 Years A Slave” by Solomon Northup.
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TJ Martin, 2012, Oscar For Best Documentary
At the 84th Academy Awards, TJ Martin became the first black documentarian to win an Oscar for his film with fellow collaborators, Rich Middlemas and Daniel Lindsay, for their work on the football feature “Undefeated” in 2012.
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Cheryl Boone Isaacs, 2013, First Black President Of The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences
Boone Isaacs was elected the first black president of “The Academy” in 2013 and re-elected in August of 2015.
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Ava DuVernay, 2014, Golden Globe Nomination For Best Director
DuVernay was the first black director to receive a Golden Globe nomination for Best Director for the 2014 film “Selma,” about Martin Luther King’s historic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
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Uzo Aduba, 2015, Emmy For Both Comedy And Drama For A Single Role
In 2015, Uzo Aduba was the first black actress, and only actor besides Ed Asner, to win an Emmy in both the comedy and drama categories for a single role for her performance on “Orange Is The New Black.”
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Viola Davis, 2015, Emmy For Best Actress In A Drama
Davis is the first actress in the 67 year history of the Emmy’s to ever win the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. In her acceptance speech the “How To Get Away With Murder” star quoted Harriet Tubman and then thanked other black actresses in leading roles. “You cannot win an Emmy for roles that simply not there,” Davis said.
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