cartermagazine: Today In History Both an esteemed actor and a respected humanitarian, Sidney Poitier
cartermagazine: Today In History Both an esteemed actor and a respected humanitarian, Sidney Poitier received an Academy Award for Best Actor for Lilies of the Field on this date April 13, 1964. Poitier was the first African American to receive an Oscar for a leading role. By consistently refusing to play the stereotypical roles that were offered to him as a African American actor, Poitier blazed a trail for himself and the performers who followed him. By the time he earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination for The Defiant Ones (1958), his work in such films as The Blackboard Jungle (1955) had made him America’s first prominent African American film star. With his historic Oscar win for Lilies of the Field, Poitier became only the second African American to win an Academy Award. The first was Hattie McDaniel, who won in the Best Supporting Actress category in 1939 for Gone with the Wind. McDaniel played Mammy, the tough but indulgent enslaved governess to the spoiled Southern belle Scarlett O’Hara. Critics of the film, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), later pointed to the role as an example of the typical Black stereotypes that Hollywood was keeping alive. CARTER™️ Magazine carter-mag.com #wherehistoryandhiphopmeet #historyandhiphop365 #cartermagazine #carter #sidneypoitier #blackhistorymonth #blackhistory #history #staywokehttps://www.instagram.com/p/CcSe7U5r_Ur/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI= -- source link