#hattielovesoscar

Congratulations on recently being named President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. We are writing today to request the reissuing of Hattie McDaniel’s Oscar for Best Supporting Actress of 1940. This December will be the eightieth anniversary of Gone With the Wind’s opening in Atlanta, an event that McDaniel and other African American actors in the film were excluded from attending. On February 29, 1940, McDaniel became the first African-American ever to win an Academy Award.

Eighteen years ago, representatives from Howard University asked the Academy to re-issue McDaniel’s Oscar. The Academy declined, saying that it was its policy never to re-issue its awards. She had left her award to the university in her will and it had for years been in a display case in the drama department but went missing sometime in the late sixties or early seventies. Washington D.C. attorney W. Burlette Carter wrote an article, "Finding the Oscar," published in the Fall 2011 edition of the Howard Law Journal that explored the circumstances and sought clarity on what may have happened to the award. (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1980721

We believe the time has come for the Academy to re-issue Ms. McDaniel’s award, not as the un-named embossed plaque, but as a statuette with her name on it. The Academy can be applauded on its efforts in recent years to reflect the diversity of the entertainment industry. Re-issuing Ms. McDaniel’s award on this special anniversary will restore an important historic symbol to its place front and center in our culture’s awareness.

Can we rely on you to begin your term as President by ensuring the Academy appropriately honors Ms. McDaniel and sends this message of respect to all African-Americans and people of color across the country?

#hattielovesoscar