--- title: First Black Actress to Win an Oscar: Watch Acceptance Speech description: Hattie McDaniel made history nearly 80 years ago when she became the first black actress to win an Academy Award. canonical: https://time.com/4241293/hattie-mcdaniels-oscar-academy-awards/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-29T18:27:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:01:56.105Z og:title: Watch the Moving Speech from the First Black Actress to Win an Oscar og:description: 'I sincerely hope I shall always be a credit to my race' og:url: https://time.com/4241293/hattie-mcdaniels-oscar-academy-awards/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab2c0d6a8a8e19a8/69887f96196cf45c3703a8ca/hattie-mcdaniel-oscar.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Hattie McDaniel og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch the Moving Speech from the First Black Actress to Win an Oscar twitter:description: 'I sincerely hope I shall always be a credit to my race' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab2c0d6a8a8e19a8/69887f96196cf45c3703a8ca/hattie-mcdaniel-oscar.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # First Black Actress to Win an Oscar: 'I Sincerely Hope I Shall Always Be a Credit to My Race'  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Feb 29, 2016 6:27 PM UTC  American actress Hattie McDaniel (1895 - 1952) is seen here with her Academy Award. American actress Hattie McDaniel (1895 - 1952) is seen here with her Academy Award.John Kobal Foundation—Getty Images  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Feb 29, 2016 6:27 PM UTC Hattie McDaniel [made history](http://time.com/3712114/1940-oscars-history/) 76 years ago Monday when she became [the first black actress to win an Academy Award](http://aaspeechesdb.oscars.org/link/012-2/). The late trailblazing cinema star, who took home an Oscar for her performance as the tough Mammy in _Gone With the Wind_, wiped away tears as she accepted the prize for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in 1940\. “This is one of the happiest moments of my life, and I want to thank each one of you who had a part in selecting me for one of the awards for your kindness,” she said. “It has made me feel very, very humble, and I shall always hold it as a beacon for anything that I may be able to do in the future,” she added. “I sincerely hope I shall always be a credit to my race and to the motion picture industry. My heart is too full to tell you just how I feel.” McDaniel—who had to sit at a table in the back of the ceremony, according to The Associated Press—became emotional as she left the stage. The daughter of two former slaves, she died from breast cancer in 1952 at the age of 57, according to [_The Hollywood Reporter_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/oscars-first-black-winner-accepted-774335). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4241293/hattie-mcdaniels-oscar-academy-awards/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4241293/hattie-mcdaniels-oscar-academy-awards/"},"headline":"First Black Actress to Win an Oscar: 'I Sincerely Hope I Shall Always Be a Credit to My Race'","datePublished":"2016-02-29T18:27:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:01:56.105Z","description":"Watch her moving acceptance speech","url":"https://time.com/4241293/hattie-mcdaniels-oscar-academy-awards/","keywords":["motto","movies","News"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab2c0d6a8a8e19a8/69887f96196cf45c3703a8ca/hattie-mcdaniel-oscar.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab2c0d6a8a8e19a8/69887f96196cf45c3703a8ca/hattie-mcdaniel-oscar.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Hattie McDaniel","caption":"Hattie McDaniel","creditText":"John Kobal Foundation—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4241293/hattie-mcdaniels-oscar-academy-awards/","name":"First Black Actress to Win an Oscar: 'I Sincerely Hope I Shall Always Be a Credit to My Race'"}}]}] ```