Hattie McDaniel was a famous African American actress. She was born on June 10th, 1895 in Wichita, Kansas. She was the First African American to receive an Oscar Award in 1939. Even though she won an Oscar, she had to sit in the back of the Cocoanut Grove and walk a great distance to the podium because she was forced to sit in the racially segregated section for African Americans. Never before had an African American been allowed in the Cocoanut Grove who was not an employee of the hotel. http://wysinger.homestead.com/hattiemcdaniel.html