The woman who would go on to be the first African American to win an Academy Award was born in Wichita, Kansas in 1893. Hattie McDaniel began her professional career as a vaudeville performer and toured with various troupes for many years while also gaining popularity on radio. She landed her first role in a motion picture in 1931 as an extra in a Hollywood musical, and continued to receive small parts in a variety of productions. In 1940 she was cast as Mammy, Scarlett O’Hara’s house servant in Gone With the Wind. Despite going on to win an Academy Award for her supporting role in the film, she and the other black actors were barred from attending the film’s premier in Georgia. McDaniel was criticized for accepting a role that perpetuated negative stereotypes but was subsequently recognised with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and honored on a 2006 U.S. postage stamp.