Hattie McDaniel was the first African-American to be nominated for any acting award. She was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, and she won for her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939).
Alfred Oscar Coffin was the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in a field of the biological sciences.
In 1928 African American voters in Chicago helped elect Oscar Depriest. He was the first African American representative to congress from a northern state.
Hattie McDaniel
Hattie McDaniel was the first African-American to win an Academy Award. She won the 1939 Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance as Mammy in "Gone With the Wind." Twenty-four years later, Sidney Poitier became the first black man to win an Oscar. He won the Best Actor award for his performance as handyman Homer Smith in "Lilies of the Field."
No, Hattie McDaniel was the first African-American win an Oscar. She was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, and she won for her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939).
Best Actress
Isaac Hayes was the first African American to win the Oscar for Best Song. He won for writing the "Theme from Shaft" in 1971.
Just one, a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Gone with the Wind. It was groundbreaking, however, as McDaniel was the first African-American to be nominated for an Oscar, and therefore the first to win an Oscar.
Charlize Theron
On February 29, 1940, Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American to win an Academy Award. She won the 1939 Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance as Mammy in "Gone With the Wind."
Halle Berry won her first Oscar for her role as Leticia Musgrove. Not only was this Berry's first oscar but it was also the first oscar won by an African American Women.
It was Hattie McDaniel, who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance as Mammy in "Gone With the Wind" (1939).