Black Fact of the Day: Feb. 20, 2020- Brought to you by Black365
John Singleton became the first African American, and youngest person ever to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director, 1992.
John Singleton became the first African American, and youngest person ever to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director, 1992.
“Harriet” the movie is a portrayal, based on the life of the legendary African American heroine. It is not, nor is it intended to be a documentary of her remarkable life. At times during the movie historical facts are noted on the screen. Harriet Tubman lived for 91 years, this movie covers about 8 to 10 years of her life. So we know there is much more to her life that we don’t see in the movie. I pray the movie raises interest in Harriet Tubman, particularly among young people, many of whom had unfortunately never heard of Harriet Tubman.
He is magnificent in his perpetual movement to disrupt. Tall, ebony hue with long locks — Roger Ross Williams —the award-winning director, producer and writer first upset the proverbial “apple cart” when he won an Academy Award® for his short film “Music By Prudence” earning a place in the history books as the first African American director to earn that distinction.
Hannah Beachler, the first African American woman to take home an Oscar for production design, said backstage that she was having a hard time processing reporters’ questions due to the euphoria she felt after winning for “Black Panther.”
There isn’t a day – I’m grateful to say – that when I walk out of my doors, I don’t run into somebody who says, ‘I can’t tell you what you’ve done for me. ‘You changed my life,’” Tyson shared with TIME. “It just confirmed for me that I was on the right track and I stayed on the right track.”
The pinnacle of McDaniel’s career, Gone with the Wind, premiered in 1939 amid controversy. Though the role would eventually lead to an Oscar win for McDaniel, she was banned from the premiere. In fact, none of Gone with the Wind’s Black actors were allowed to attend the film’s Atlanta premiere.
The American Film Institute is honoring Denzel Washington with a Life Achievement Award. The organization said Friday that Washington will receive the award at a Gala Tribute on June 6 in Los Angeles. It will be broadcast on TNT.
For the second year in a row, no actor or actress of color has been nominated for an Academy Award. That is a shameful streak. But the growing outcry over the whitewashing of the prestigious golden statue and the industry it celebrates is a sign of at least some progress. There’s a new consciousness emerging. Twenty years ago when the Rainbow PUSH Coalition protested the almost total lack of Oscar diversity — only one out of 166 nominees was African American in 1996 — our efforts were met largely with indifference and ridicule by even some of the very minority
The Inglewood Public Library will host a free screening of “Bridging the Divide: Tom Bradley and the Politics of Race” at the Gladys Waddingham Lecture Hall, 101 W. Manchester Blvd. on February 28 in Inglewood. Recently broadcast on PBS, “Bridging the Divide” tells the little-known story of Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, the first African American mayor elected in a major American city with a white majority.
In 1914, actor Sam Lucas became the first African American actor to star in a full-length film and play in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” His career began in blackface minstrelsy, but he soon branched out to pursue serious dramas such as “The Creole Show” and “A Trip to Coontown”.
Since the 2016 Oscar nominations have been announced on Jan. 14, the talks of the lack of diversity in the prestigious award show has been on the minds of some of Hollywood’s top actors, directors and media personalities.