Hattie McDaniel was the first Africa American to receive an Academy Award. She was born on June 10, 1895 in Wichita, Kansas. Her father was a Baptist minister and her mother was a singer in the church. She also had two siblings, Sam and Etta McDaniel. She dropped out of school when she was 15 to join a minstrel show. She went on tour with them until the Great Depression started. During that time, she won a medal in dramatic arts. Then, she started a career as a band vocalist in an orchestra and went on tour with the orchestra in 1915. She became the first African American to sing on the radio in the US. In 1922 she married George Langford. He was shot and died the same year she married him. In 1931 she went to Hollywood to find a job as an actress. She began as an extra. When she could not find work as an actress she would work as a maid, a cook, or a washerwoman. Then, she moved to Los Angeles where her brother found a part for her on a radio show called "The Optimistic Do-Nuts."......
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