BLACK WOMEN IN HOLLYWOOD

By: Cameron Scott

WHAT WAS THEIR ROLE?

❖Hollywood in its prime during the 1950’s wanted

this from black female actresses…

❖They wanted unattractive, older women who would

not appeal to the public eye.

❖Generally bigger women, as to better play the roles

of angry mammies, and servants.

❖At the time, black

people in general were

not seen as equals to

whites. Oppression and

segregation was huge in

the 1950’s, and the

effects of this systematic

racism are still felt

today.

WHY?

HERE’S A VIDEO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWQNd49C5eE

SO WHERE ARE WE NOW?

❖As the generations went by, we lost quite a bit of the old

ways. Segregation is no longer governmentally sanctioned

but it’s lasting effects are prevalent in our education and

entertainment. Now black actresses have a better chance of

getting lead roles in Hollywood films, however there is the

continual problem of “token” black characters. The one black

person in the group, and if that character happens to be a

woman she is often portrayed as “sassy” or “foxy”. However

these actresses are no longer restricted to the roles of

“mammies”.

❖However, there is a little irony in this…

❖In 2012, Viola Davis and Octavia

Spencer were nominated to win best

actress and best supporting actress.

Having two black women poised to

sweep the Oscars might have seemed

like progress for Hollywood; but it

doesn’t end there. The parts they

were nominated for were the roles of

maids in the box-office hit The Help.

After Octavia Spencer won the best

supporting actress Oscar, it left a

legacy of black women portraying the

help going all the way back to Hattie

McDaniel. Who won an Oscar in 1939

for Best Supporting Actress as

“Mammy” in Gone With The Wind.

IRONIC?

A FUNNIER VIDEO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URBpxbLhuAQ

THE END