Post on 12-Aug-2015
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