Monday 25 March 2013

BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRICAN AMERICAN ACTRESS HATTIE MCDANIEL : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK GENIUS " :

African American Actress Hattie McDaniel born on 10th June 1895 and died on 2th October 1952: She was the first African American to win an Academy Award for her role of Mammy in Gone With The Wind (1939)   In addition to acting in many films, McDaniel was a professional singer-song writer, comedian, stage actress, radio performer and television star she was the first Black Woman to sing on the radio in America. During her career McDaniel appeared in over three hundred films, although she received screen credit for only eighty or so.  She gained the respect of the African American show business community with her generosity, elegance, great beauty and charm. McDaniel has two stars on the Hollywood walk of fame, in Hollywood one at 6933 Hollywood Boulevard for her contribution to radio and one at 1719 Vine Street for acting in motion pictures.









































In 1975 she was inducted into the Black Film Makers Hall Of Fame and in 2006 became the first Black Oscar Winner honored with a U.S. Postage Stamp. Hattie McDaniel was born in Wichita, Kansas to former slaves, she was the youngest of thirteen children. Her father Henry McDaniel  fought in the Civil War with the 122nd USCT and her mother Susan Holbert was a singer of religious music. In 1900 the family moved to Colorado living first in Fort Collins and then Denver where Hattie graduated from Denver East High School: Her brother Sam McDaniel ( 1886  to  1962 ) played the butler in the 1948 Film Three  Stooges, short film Heavenly Daze>  Another acting sibling of Hattie and Sam was actress Etta McDaniel: Hattie was a singer writer a skill she honed while working with her brother Minstrel Show.


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