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Washington, D.C. — It was the first Oscar ever awarded to a Black actor: The plaque presented to actress Hattie McDaniel in 1940 for her iconic supporting role in the landmark 1939 film “Gone With the Wind.”

Following McDaniel’s death in 1952, the award was bequeathed to D.C.’s Howard University, where it was a prized possession — until it mysteriously disappeared a decade later.

But at last, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented a replacement plaque on Oct. 1 to Howard University’s Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts. The ceremony billed as “Hattie’s Come Home” was a moving tribute to the artist’s life and legacy. Participants included Jacqueline Stewart, president of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, and Teni Melidonian, executive VP of Oscars strategy at AMPAS.

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Actor Phylicia Rashad, outgoing dean of the Boseman College of Fine Arts,...

(Original Caption) 3/2/1940- Los Angeles, CA: Actress Hattie Mc Daniel is shown with the statuette she received for her portrayal in “Gone With The Wind.” The award was for Best Supporting Role by an Actress, and was made at the 12th annual Academy Awards ceremony.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures announced today the Academy will gift to the Howard University Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts a replacement of actor Hattie McDaniel’s Best Supporting Actress Academy Award® . Howard University will host a ceremony titled “Hattie’s Come Home” at its Ira Aldridge Theater in Washington, D.C., on October 1, 2023.

The ceremony will celebrate the life and legacy of McDaniel, her historic Academy Award win, and reunite her Academy Award with Howard University as she originally intended. The event will include opening remarks by Phylicia Rashad, Dean of the Chadwick A.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is giving the Howard University Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts a replacement award for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar that Hattie McDaniel won for “Gone With the Wind” in 1940.

McDaniel was the first Black person to be nominated and win an Academy Award — and would remain the only Black woman to win an Oscar until 1991, when Whoopi Goldberg won for her supporting role in “Ghost.” At the 12th Academy Awards ceremony in 1940, which was held at the segregated Cocoanut Grove at the Ambassador Hotel, McDaniel and her guest were not allowed to sit with the rest of the many “Gone With the Wind” nominees.

Hattie McDaniel with her Best Supporting Actress plaque (Bettmann/Getty Images) and the reproduction going to Howard University (Owen Kolasinski/© Academy Museum Foundation)

McDaniel won for playing “Mammy,” Scarlett O’Hara’s maid, and she received a plaque,...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will bestow a replacement Oscar for supporting actress winner Hattie McDaniel to Howard University’s Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts during a ceremony titled “Hattie’s Come Home” in Washington D.C. on Oct. 1.

Taking place at the Ira Aldridge Theater, the ceremony will celebrate McDaniels’ life and legacy, her historic Academy Award win, and reunite her prize with the long-running Hbcu, as she originally intended. The event will include opening remarks by Phylicia Rashad, dean of the College of Fine Arts, along with a performance of a medley of songs from current students and an excerpt from Ladarrion Williams’ play “Boulevard of Bold Dreams.”

Jacqueline Stewart, president of the Academy Museum and Teni Melidonian, executive vice president of Oscars strategy, will present the prize to the university. In addition, Stewart will also host a conversation with Rashad,...

The first competitive Oscar ever awarded to a Black person, the best supporting actress Oscar that Hattie McDaniel won for her performance in Gone With the Wind in 1940, went missing from Howard University (to which McDaniel bequeathed it after her death in 1952) sometime in the late 1960s. This is acknowledged at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Hollywood, where a row of Oscars on loan to the institution are on display, with one empty display case in the middle, for McDaniel’s.

But on Tuesday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that it will be rectifying this situation by gifting Howard University’s Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts a replacement Oscar. The one that McDaniel received in 1940 was not a statuette, but a plaque, as all supporting acting winners received from 1936 to 1942. But the replacement will be a proper Oscar, which will be presented...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures are replacing “Gone with the Wind” actress Hattie McDaniel’s lost Oscar 80 years after her historic win for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1940, McDaniel took home a plaque in lieu of an Oscar statue, as was customary for supporting actors at the time. Statuettes became the standard for all winners’ categories for the ceremony in early 1944. While the whereabouts of McDaniel’s original award is currently unknown, the Academy is bestowing a new Oscar statuette in the late actress’ honor to the Howard University Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts.

McDaniel originally bequeathed her Academy Award to Howard University upon her death in 1952. The award was displayed at the university’s drama department until the late 1960s when it disappeared.

McDaniel was the first Black person to be nominated for and win an Academy Award.