Hattie
McDaniel, First African American to Win an Academy Award,
Featured on New 39-Cent Postage Stamp
LOS ANGELES
(PRnewswire) - Hattie McDaniel, movie actress, singer, radio
and television personality, and the first African American
to win an Academy Award today became the 29th honoree in the
U.S. Postal Service's long-running Black Heritage commemorative
stamp series.
The
39-cent Hattie McDaniel commemorative stamp highlights the
achievements of this legendary performer who won the Oscar
for her role as Mammy in the award-winning 1939 film Gone
With the Wind. The new stamp is available today only
in Beverly Hills Post Offices and nationwide tomorrow, January
26.
"When
you are a person who is determined and hard-working, the tables
can be turned. Hattie, though the youngest child of former
slaves, achieved her greatest honor doing what she loved most
-- entertaining -- for her role impersonating a slave,"
said Edgar Goff, nephew of Hattie McDaniel. "Her favorite
expression was, 'Humble is the way.'"
Although
McDaniel was often heavily criticized for playing maids
and other stereotypical roles, she worked behind the
scenes to battle racism and discrimination. McDaniel
is remembered for saying, "I'd rather play a maid
than be one," and although she encountered racism
in Hollywood, she and several other black actors worked
to change the film industry from within during the 1940's.
"The
United States Postal Service is proud to salute the
life and extraordinary legacy of Hattie McDaniel,"
said James C. Miller, Chairman of the U.S. Postal Service's
Board of Governors, who dedicated the stamp. "This
stamp is a powerful reminder of her unprecedented contribution
to Hollywood and to her pioneering legacy to help make
this country a better place."
The
ceremony took place at the Margaret Herrick Library
of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,
where the Hattie McDaniel collection includes photographs
of Hattie and other family members, as well as scripts
and other documents. The collection also contains a
large number of recordings from the radio program, "Beulah."
Joining
Chairman Miller from the Postal Service was Delores
Killette, Vice President, Consumer Advocate. Also participating
in the ceremony were Academy President Sid Ganis; Edgar
Goff, nephew of Hattie McDaniel; Kim Goff-Crews, a grandniece
of McDaniel and Dean of Students, Wellesley College;
Dr. Mynora J. Bryant, International Grand Basileus,
Sigma Gamma Rho, Inc. of which McDaniel was an honorary
member; Ann-Marie Johnson, National First Vice President,
Screen Actors Guild; Johnny Grant, Hollywood's Honorary
Mayor; Linda Hopkins, Jazz and Blues legend; and Vonzell
Solomon, performer, 2005 "American Idol" finalist
and former postal carrier.
"We
at the Academy are proud to see a portrait of Academy
Award winner Hattie McDaniel, the first African American
to win an Oscar, gracing a U.S. postage stamp,"
said Academy President Sid Ganis. "We hope this
newest recognition will remind Americans everywhere
of the great stride forward made by this unassuming
pioneer."
Among
the honored guests were cast members from Gone with
the Wind including Ann Rutherford, Patrick Curtis, Mickey
Kuhn, and Cammie King Conlon; Wonderful Smith, McDaniel's
friend and Chauffeur; Karl Malden, Member Emeritus,
Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee (CSAC) and past president
of the Academy; Jean Picker Firstenberg, Member, CSAC,
and CEO, American Film Institute; Al Iniguez, Pacific
Area Vice President, U.S. Postal Service; Bill Almaraz,
Los Angeles District Manager, U.S. Postal Service; Koula
Fuller, Beverly Hills Postmaster; and members of Sigma
Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.
McDaniel
joins 28 other honorees in the Postal Service's Black
Heritage commemorative stamp series which salutes outstanding
African-American activists, theorists, writers, educators
and leaders. Other notable Americans in the series include:
the first African-American woman to be honored on a
U.S. stamp and the first honoree in the Black Heritage
series, abolitionist Harriet Tubman; Civil Rights leader
Martin Luther King, Jr.; prominent historian and son
of a former slave, Dr. Carter G. Woodson; writer and
composer Scott Joplin; Supreme Court Justice Thurgood
Marshall; and classically trained performance artist
Marian Anderson.
McDaniel
was born June 10, 1895, in Wichita, Kan., and raised
in Denver, Colo. Showing signs of her talent at an early
age, she dropped out of school as a teenager to tour
with vaudeville companies and traveled with musical
ensembles and minstrel shows, including one run by her
father. She sang on Denver radio as early as 1925, and
she wrote and recorded several of her own songs.
McDaniel
arrived in Hollywood in 1931 and soon began to appear
in films. She is credited with appearing in more than
90 films, but is believed to have appeared in as many
as 300, including uncredited roles as extras, maids,
and chorus singers. She sang a duet with Will Rogers
in Judge Priest (1934), a film directed by John Ford,
and she often appeared alongside many of the brightest
stars of the era, such as Clark Gable and Jean Harlow
in Saratoga (1937) and Katharine Hepburn in Alice Adams
(1935), which featured a comic performance by McDaniel.
Some of her other notable films included Show Boat (1936),
In This Our Life (1942), which was praised for the depth
and humanity of its black characters, and Since You
Went Away (1944).
From
1947 until 1952, McDaniel played the title role in The
Beulah Show, which was broadcast on national radio.
As the first radio show to feature a black star, The
Beulah Show was praised by the NAACP and the National
Urban League. Although McDaniel again played a maid,
she insisted that her character not speak in dialect,
and she successfully negotiated the right to alter scripts
that did not meet her approval. Shortly before her death,
McDaniel was preparing to replace an actress in the
television version of the The Beulah Show. McDaniel
died of breast cancer at the age of 57 on October 26,
1952.
The
stamp was designed by Ethel Kessler of Bethesda, MD
and features a 1941 photograph of McDaniel by Tim O'Brien
of Brooklyn, NY in the dress she wore on February 29,
1940, when she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting
Actress.
The
Postal Service continues its commitment to honor the
historical achievements and contributions of African
Americans. Through the popular Black Heritage stamp
series these significant and educational contributions
will continue to be recognized in the future. To see
the Hattie McDaniel commemorative stamp and other images
from the 2006 Commemorative Stamp Program, visit the
Postal Store at http://www.usps.com/shop
and click on "Release Schedule" in the Collector's
Corner.
Current
U.S. postage stamps, as well as a free comprehensive
catalog, are available at 1-800-STAMP-24. A wide selection
of stamps and other philatelic items is also available
at the Postal Store at http://www.usps.com/shop. Beautifully
framed prints of original stamp art for delivery are
available at http://www.postalartgallery.com
How
to Order the First-Day-of-Issue Postmark
Customers
have 30 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark
by mail. They may purchase new stamps at their local
Post Office, by telephone at 1- 800-STAMP-24, and at
the Postal Store Web site at http://www.usps.com/shop.
They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice,
address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and
place them in a larger envelope addressed to:
HATTIE MCDANIEL STAMP
POSTMASTER
325 NORTH MAPLE DR
BEVERLY HILLS CA 90210-9998
After
applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal
Service will return the envelopes through the mail.
There is no charge for the postmark. All orders must
be postmarked by February 24, 2006.
How
to Order First-Day Covers
Stamp
Fulfillment Services also offers first-day covers for
new stamp issues and Postal Service stationery items
postmarked with the official first day of issue cancellation.
Each item has an individual catalog number and is offered
in the quarterly USA Philatelic catalog. Customers may
request a free catalog by calling 1-800-STAMP-24 or
writing to:
INFORMATION FULFILLMENT
DEPT 6270
US POSTAL SERVICE
PO BOX 219014
KANSAS CITY MO 64121-9014
Since
1775, the Postal Service and its predecessor, the Post
Office Department, has connected friends, families,
neighbors and businesses by mail. It is an independent
federal agency that visits 144 million homes and businesses
every day, six days a week and is the only service provider
delivering to every address in the nation. The Postal
Service receives no taxpayer dollars for routine operations,
but derives its operating revenues solely from the sale
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and a half million customers each day at its 37,000
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attracts more than 21 million visitors each month.
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