Black Oscar Winners Through The Years

Black Oscar Winners Through The Years
From film scoring, production, direction and acting, African Americans have touched many facets of the film genre. Though there are years where no black people nominated – like in 2011 – BlackVoices.com takes a look a the winner's club – through the years.

Black Oscar Winners Through The Years

Hattie McDaniel
She was the first African American to be nominated for, and win, an Academy Award. For her role in the 1939 epic saga 'Gone With the Wind,' the Kansas native took home the prize for best actress in a supporting role. With her win, she met some criticism for playing a stereotypical black character, but McDaniel caused a stir when she told members of the media that she would rather "play a maid than be one!"

Black Oscar Winners Through The Years

Sydney Poitier
He was the first African American to win an Academy Award for best actor in a leading role. His Oscar win for the 1963 drama 'Lilies of the Field' proved that this Bahamian-American thespian was a real box office draw. Four years later, with 'To Sir, With Love,' 'In the Heat of the Night' and 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner,' the latter being one of the first movies to positively tackle the complexities of interracial relationships, Poitier became the year's top box office star. In 2002, the 83-year-old was also awarded an honorary Oscar.

Black Oscar Winners Through The Years

Isaac Hayes
Hayes became the first African American to win for best original song and the first African American to win an Oscar in a non-acting category. The theme to the blaxploitation film 'Shaft,' appropriately titled 'Theme from Shaft,' earned this soul singer an Academy Award in 1971. The track, which was written and performed by the late Memphis native, rose to the top of the Billboard charts months after the movie's release. Hayes got to perform the song at the Academy Award ceremony in 1972 and dedicated the win to his grandmother, who joined him on stage to accept the award.

Black Oscar Winners Through The Years

Quincy Jones
He is the first African American nominated for best picture, the first African American to be named musical director/conductor of the Academy Awards ceremony (in 1971), and the first African American to win the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Jones, who has long been known for his talent in the music business, made Academy Award history for his role as a producer on the feature film 'The Color Purple.' The 27-time Grammy Award winner is tied with sound designer Willie D. Burton as the most Oscar-nominated African American with seven nominations.

Black Oscar Winners Through The Years

Louis Gossett Jr.
He was the first African American actor to win for best supporting actor. The Brooklyn, N.Y., native, who had no formal drama training, took home an Oscar for his characterization of Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in the 1982 film 'An Officer and a Gentleman.' Unfortunately, the he did not find Hollywood calling for major motion pictures, something he lamented about publicly. "If I were white, I'd be as rich as Harrison Ford," he told BV.

Black Oscar Winners Through The Years

Mo'Nique
In 2010, Mo'Nique was the sixteenth African American actress to receive a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and only the fourth to win. The Maryland native won for her searing role as a child abusing welfare queen in Lee Daniels' critically-acclaimed 'Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire.' The comedienne -- who is also a best-selling author -- is the twelfth individual African American to win an Oscar for acting; and the seventh winner during the decade of the new millennium. Leading up to all the awards season buzz, 'The Mo'Nique Show,' a late-night talk show premiered in 2009 on BET.

Black Oscar Winners Through The Years

Irene Cara
She was the first and only African American woman to win a non-acting Academy Award. Cara, who penned the lyrics to 'Flashdance (What a Feeling)' -- while in a cab on the way to the studio to record the song -- took home her Oscar in 1984. The New York native performed the song and later released it as a single. She is also known for creating the Academy Award-nominated theme to the 1980 film 'Fame,' which she performed at the awards ceremony.

Black Oscar Winners Through The Years

Stevie Wonder
Wonder's 'I Just Called to Say I Love You,' remains one of the Michigan native's most commercially successful singles. The track was featured in the 1984 Gene Wilder-directed comedy 'The Woman in Red' and won for best original song in 1984. The soundtrack also featured Dionne Warwick.

Black Oscar Winners Through The Years

Prince
Was the first and only African American to win for best original song score. After his 1984 Oscar win, the category was retired, but Prince's seminal album, 'Purple Rain,' made the Minnesota native a household name. The soundtrack album spent 24 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. At one point the pint-sized music icon, who starred in the film, had the No. 1 movie, single and album in America.

Black Oscar Winners Through The Years