New Oscars Film History Book, ‘Hollywood Blackout’, Features Black & Minority Movie Stars In Industry Tale of Discrimination

HOLLYWOOD TIE-UP: Actresses Vivien Leigh and Hattie McDaniel, star in the 1939 film ‘Gone With The Wind’. McDaniel made movie history in becoming the first person of colour, and the first Black woman, to win an Oscar.

On 29 February 1940, African American actor Hattie McDaniel became the first person of colour, and the first Black female, to win an Academy Award, for her role as Best Supporting Actress in ‘Gone With The Wind’. The moment marked the beginning of Hollywood’s reluctant move toward diversity and inclusion.

Since then, minorities and women have struggled for Academy Awards recognition within a system designed to discriminate against them. For the first time ever, in his new book, author Ben Arogundade reveals their untold stories in ‘Hollywood Blackout’ — a revisionist history of the Oscars, through the lens of those whom, since 1927, have systemically been excluded from its successes

The book narrates their tumultuous journey from exclusion to inclusion; from segregation to celebration. 

DIVERSITY IN HOLLYWOOD FILM

Arogundade interweaves the experiences of Black actors and filmmakers with those of Asians, Latinos, South Asians, indigenous peoples and women. Throughout the decades their progress at the Oscars has been galvanised by defiant boycotts, civil rights protests and social media activism such as #OscarsSoWhite.

Richly detailed and exhaustively researched, ‘Hollywood Blackout’ narrates the compelling stories of these film stars via their starring roles in classic Hollywood movies, and their subsequent Oscar nominations and victories. The drama and glamour of the Awards ceremonies that honoured them are captured in vivid detail, from the outfits they wore, through to the on-stage shocks and emotive acceptance speeches that defined each occasion. 

OSCARS FILM HISTORY

Many of Hollywood film history’s biggest names feature in the new book, from Hattie McDaniel to Denzel Washington; from Merle Oberon to Ben Kingsley; from Anthony Quinn to America Ferrera; from Miyoshi Umeki to Michelle Yeoh; from Lina Wertmüller to Kathryn Bigelow; and from Chief Dan George to Lily Gladstone. It also profiles key behind-the-scenes characters – from Louis B. Mayer, founder of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1927, to Charles Butler, head of Central Casting’s Black division in the 1920s and 30s, to Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the first Black woman to head the Academy in 2013.

INDUSTRY MOVIE STARS CELEBRATED 

Their achievements within the film industry, alongside those of hundreds of others, are honoured and timelined in the book as intrinsic parts of Hollywood film history, where they belong. After almost a century of exclusion, their collective endeavours have re-calibrated the Oscars landscape into one which today is increasingly diverse, and better reflects the make-up of Hollywood’s film community, and the global film fans they so rely on.

AND THE WINNERS IS….: (from top): black Hollywood pioneer Sidney Poitier wins Best Actor in 1963 for Lilies of the Field. Viola Davis wins Best Supporting Actress in 2017 for Fences. Latino movie star Benicio Del Toro wins Best Supporting Actor in 2001 for Traffic. Michelle Yeoh becomes the first Asian to win Best Actress in 2023, for Everything Everywhere All at Once. Cuba Gooding wins Best Supporting Actor in 1997, for Jerry Maguire. Overall, in Hollywood, women and minorities have taken home Oscars on very few occasions compared to white male filmmakers.

HOLLYWOOD, THE OSCARS & DIVERSITY — THE STATS

• One black woman has won Best Actress.

• No black filmmaker has won Best Director.

• Three women have won Best Director.

• Asian actors have won only five Oscars. None have won Best Actor.

• One actor of Indian descent has won Best Actor. None have won Best Actress 

• No Native American has won Best Actor or Best Actress

• Latino actors have won only four Oscars. No Latina has won Best Actress.