Oscars 2013: Remembering The Most Famous Infamous Speeches Ever

7. Hattie McDaniel - Best Supporting Actress (Gone With The Wind)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7t4pTNZshA Hattie McDaniel will forever be remembered as the woman who broke down the race barrier at the Academy Awards. In 1940 the Academy, in its 13th year of existence, finally chose the first African-American to win an Oscar. Although to this day controversy still arises in the fact that McDaniel won an Oscar for playing a house slave, there is still no doubt that her win had on impact on the way Hollywood perceived black actors and the roles they could play, making the award quite profound in film history. Presenter Fay Bainter gives a very empowering introduction to McDaniel before she comes to the podium, stating that the decision to award McDaniel with the Oscar will open doors for the future. It did take another 24 years before the Academy presented another black actor with an Oscar (Sidney Poitier in 1964), but McDaniel's award is still a very historic one, and even the gap in time between the next Oscar to a black actor does not diminish its inital power.