For the second year in a row, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences has failed to include a single African American actor among its slate of 20 acting nominees. This has caused an uproar on social media (#OscarsSoWhite) and very public declarations by Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee that they will be boycotting the festivities on February 28.
While some have criticized Smith and Lee’s comments, the president of the Academy, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, issued a lengthy statement on Monday about how “heartbroken and frustrated” she was by the lack of inclusion among the nominees. “The Academy is taking dramatic steps to alter the makeup of our membership. In the coming days and weeks we will conduct a review of our membership recruitment in order to bring about much-needed diversity in our 2016 class and beyond,” Boone Isaacs said. “As many of you know,” she continued, “we have implemented changes to diversify our membership in the last four years. But the change is not coming as fast as we would like. We need to do more, and better and more quickly.”
Looking at the Oscar nominations over the past 50 years, the last two-year period in which no African Americans were nominated in the acting categories was 1997 and 1998. Before that, the longest stretch was the period between 1975 and 1980. In total, since the beginning of the Academy Awards in 1927, African American actors have won 23 Oscars, with the largest number of awards coming in the Best Supporting Actress category, beginning with Hattie McDaniel’s historic win in 1939 for her role as Mammy in Gone With the Wind (she was the first African American or black person of any nationality to win an Oscar).
In light of the growing controversy, I was interested to look at the facts and figures about African Americans nominated for Academy Awards.
Halle Berry poses with her Actress in a Leading Role Oscar for “Monster’s Ball” (Photo by SGranitz/WireImage)
Best Actress
Won (1)
2001 Halle Berry, Monster’s Ball
Nominated (9)
1954 Dorothy Dandridge, Carmen Jones
1972 Diana Ross, Lady Sings the Blues
1972 Cicely Tyson, Sounder
1974 Diahann Carroll, Claudine
1985 Whoopi Goldberg, The Color Purple
1993 Angela Bassett, What’s Love Got to Do With It
2009 Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
2011 Viola Davis, The Help
2012 Quevenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Best Actor
Won (4)
1963 Sidney Poitier, Lillies of the Field
2001 Denzel Washington, Training Day
2004 Jamie Foxx, Ray
2006 Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
Nominated (16)
1958 Sidney Poitier, The Defiant Ones
1970 James Earl Jones, The Great White Hope
1972 Paul Winfield, Sounder
1986 Dexter Gordon, Round Midnight
1989 Morgan Freeman, Driving Miss Daisy
1992 Denzel Washington, Malcolm X
1993 Laurence Fishburne, What’s Love Got to Do With It
1994 Morgan Freeman, The Shawshank Redemption
1999 Denzel Washington, The Hurricane
2001 Will Smith, Ali
2004 Don Cheadle, Hotel Rwanda
2005 Terence Howard, Hustle & Flow
2006 Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happiness
2009 Morgan Freeman, Invictus
2012 Denzel Washington, Flight
2013 Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave (Ejiofor is British)
Best Supporting Actress
Won (6)
1939 Hattie McDaniel, Gone With the Wind
1990 Whoopi Goldberg, Ghost
2006 Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
2009 Mo’Nique, Precious
2011 Octavia Spencer, The Help
2013 Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave (Nyong’o is Mexican-Kenyan)
[Note that on many such lists, Carol Channing is included as an African American nominee for Best Supporting Actress for her 1967 nomination for Thoroughly Modern Millie. It seems crazy to include her in this discussion even though her paternal grandmother was African American.]
Nominated (12)
1949 Ethel Waters, Pinky
1959 Juanita Moore, Imitation of Life
1967 Beah Richards, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
1983 Alfre Woodard, Cross Creek
1985 Margaret Avery, The Color Purple
1985 Oprah Winfrey, The Color Purple
1996 Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Secrets & Lies (Baptiste is British)
2002 Queen Latifah, Chicago
2004 Sophie Okonedo, Hotel Rwanda (Okonedo is British)
2007 Ruby Dee, American Gangster
2008 Viola Davis, Doubt
2008 Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Supporting Actor
Won (4)
1982 Louis Gossett, Jr., An Officer and a Gentleman
1989 Denzel Washington, Glory
1996 Cuba Gooding, Jr., Jerry Maguire
2004 Morgan Freeman, Million Dollar Baby
Nominated (13)
1969 Rupert Crosse, The Reivers
1981 Howard Rollins, Ragtime
1984 Adolph Caesar, A Soldier’s Story
1987 Morgan Freeman, Street Smart
1987 Denzel Washington, Cry Freedom
1992 Jaye Davidson, The Crying Game
1994 Samuel L. Jackson, Pulp Fiction
1999 Michael Clarke Duncan, The Green Mile
2003 Djimon Hounsou, In America (Hounsou was born in Benin and is now an American citizen)
2004 Jamie Foxx, Collateral
2006 Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
2006 Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
2013 Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips (Abdi was born in Somalia and is now an American citizen)
And a few other top categories:
Best Director
Won (0)
Nominated (3)
1991 John Singleton, Boyz n the Hood
2009 Lee Daniels, Precious
2013 Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave (McQueen is British)
Best Picture (Producer)
Won (1)
2013 Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
Nominated (6)
1985 Quincy Jones, The Color Purple
2009 Lee Daniels, Precious
2009 Broderick Johnson, The Blind Side
2012 Reginald Hudlin, Django Unchained
2013 Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
2014 Oprah Winfrey, Selma
Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
Won (0)
Nominated (3)
1972 Suzanne de Passe, Lady Sings the Blues
1989 Spike Lee, Do the Right Thing
1991 John Singleton, Boyz n the Hood
Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
Won (2)
2009 Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious
2013 John Ridley, 12 Years a Slave
Nominated (2)
1972 Lonne Elder, Sounder
1984 Charles Fuller, A Soldier’s Story
Best Cinematography
Won (0)
Nominated (1)
1998 Remi Adefarasin, Elizabeth
Best Editing
Won (0)
Nominated (1)
1969 Hugh A. Robertson, Midnight Cowboy
Best Costume Design
Won (0)
Nominated (4)
1992 Ruth E. Carter, Malcolm X
1997 Ruth E. Carter, Amistad
2004 Sharen Davis, Ray
2006 Sharen Davis, Dreamgirls
Best Original Score
Won (2)
1984 Prince, Purple Rain
1986 Herbie Hancock, Round Midnight
Nominated (8)
1961 Duke Ellington, Paris Blues
1967 Quincy Jones, In Cold Blood
1971 Isaac Hayes, Shaft
1978 Quincy Jones, The Wiz
1985 Quincy Jones, Andrae Crouch, Caiphus Semenya, The Color Purple
1987 Jonas Gwangwa, Cry Freedom
Best Original Song
Won (9)
1971 Isaac Hayes, “Theme from Shaft,” Shaft
1983 Irene Cara, “What a Feeling,” Flashdance
1984 Stevie Wonder, “I Just Called to Say I Love You,” The Woman in Red
1985 Lionel Richie, “Say You, Say Me,” White Nights
2005 Juicy J, Frayser Boy, DJ Paul, “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp,” Hustle & Flow
2014 Common, John Legend, “Glory,” Selma
Nominated (23)
1967 Quincy Jones, Bob Russell, “The Eyes of Love,” Banning
1968 Quincy Jones, Bob Russell, “For Love of Ivy,” For Love of Ivy
1981 Lionel Richie, “Endless Love,” Endless Love
1984 Ray Parker, Jr., “Ghostbusters,” Ghostbusters
1985 Quincy Jones, Lionel Richie, “Miss Celie’s Blues,” The Color Purple
1988 Lamont Dozier, “Two Hearts,” Buster
1993 Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, Janet Jackson, “Again,” Poetic Justice
1994 James Ingram, “The Day I Fall in Love,” Beethoven’s 2nd
1995 James Ingram, “Look What Love Has Done,” Junior
2006 Siedah Garrett, “Love You I Do,” Dreamgirls
2007 Jamal Joseph, Charles Mack, Tevin Thomas, “Raise It Up,” August Rush
2011 Siedah Garrett, Carlinhos Brown, “Real in Rio,” Rio
2013 Pharrell Williams, “Happy,” Despicable Me 2
2015 The Weeknd, Jason “Daheala” Quenneville, “Earned It,” 50 Shades of Grey
In the remaining categories, African Americans received a total of 6 regular Oscars and 7 honorary Oscars (including one this year for Spike Lee). Not sure how this will all shake out, but I’m looking forward to host Chris Rock’s comments about the situation on February 28th!