second post
Hat tip CCP:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_representation_in_HollywoodWho was in charge of most of the studios during "old Hollywood"?
" African American roles in Old Hollywood
The roles that the African-American community were generally offered, usually fell into one or more of three themes; a tale of rags to riches, thug life, or segregation.[citation needed] These roles often followed old stereotypes.[citation needed] There was the Tom who was someone who served white people; the Coon who acted goofy (like a clown or naive); the "Tragic Mulatto" who was someone who tried to "pass for being white"; the Mammy who was seen as asexual, helped to raise the young, and helped families; and the Buck who was often a male who was hyper-sexualized and seen as a threat.[6] Though the roles were demeaning for the communities with darker skin tones, some actors and actresses were so desperate to represent their communities or to change the ways of Hollywood they knew that any part is a part.[citation needed]
Performers such as Sidney Poitier and Hattie McDaniel would do whatever they would have to in order to pave the way for other African-American actors and actresses.[citation needed]The first black Oscar winner, Hattie McDaniel, received the Academy Award in 1940 for her portrayal of the loyal maid in Gone with the Wind. When criticized for often playing a mammy on film, McDaniel once stated, “I can be a maid for $7 a week. Or I can play a maid for $700 a week.”[citation needed] Despite the Academy Award, McDaniel faced struggle of both racism and sexism over the next decade, even within the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).[7] Its leader, Walter Francis White, looked down on her and other actors (such as Stepin Fetchit) that he perceived to "playing the clown before the camera".[7] By 1942, White and the NAACP had tried to force Hollywood into giving more opportunities for African Americans in film roles; McDaniel on the other hand believed it should be the fellow black actors of the Screen Actors Guild, not the NAACP, responsible for the push.[7]"
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Quite the emotional contrast between this post and the previous one , , ,
