Hattie McDaniel, Jill Watts
Hattie McDaniel, Jill Watts
List: $37.99 | Sale: $26.60
Club: $18.99

Hattie McDaniel
Black Ambition, White Hollywood

Author: Jill Watts

Narrator: Bahni Turpin

Unabridged: 14 hr 6 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/14/2021

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

From an accomplished historian comes an uncompromising look at the pervasive racism in Hollywood, as seen through the life and times of actress Hattie McDaniel
Hattie McDaniel is best known for her performance as Mammy, the sassy foil to Scarlett O’Hara in the movie classic Gone with the Wind. Her powerful performance won her an Oscar® and bolstered the hopes of black Hollywood that the entertainment industry was finally ready to write more multidimensional, fully-realized roles for blacks.
But despite this victory, and pleas by organizations such as the NAACP and SAG, roles for blacks continued to denigrate the African American experience. So Hattie McDaniel continued to play servants. “I’d rather play a maid then be a maid,” Hattie McDaniel answered her critics, but her flip response belied a woman who was emotionally conflicted. Here, in an exhaustively detailed and incisive text by a talented historian, is the story of a valiant woman who defied the racism of her time.

About The Author

A professor of history at California State University and the coordinator of the film studies program at California State University, San Marcos, Jill Watts has written two previous books, God, Harlem U.S.A.: The Father Divine Story and Mae West: An Icon in Black and White. She lives in San Marcos, California.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Raymond

First published in Ballasts for the Mind: [URL not allowed]-for-the-m... The actor Hattie McDaniel was a complicated figure. The daughter of slaves, McDaniel began her life tagging along with her mother learning the ways to become a domestic. It was a “force” in life that was pulling her in......more

Hattie McDaniel was the first black woman to win an Oscar, and this award has cemented her in film history. Her achievement broke barriers for black actors in the future, but it was also a curse that made it difficult for her and other African American stars to find work. Hattie began as a blues and......more

Goodreads review by Alexis

This is no mere Hollywood Biography. Ms. Watts delves into Ms. McDaniel's family tree so one gets the essence of Hattie's wit, struggle, innovation and creativity. She did things her way more than one realizes. This is no vanity biography - it goes deep into the psyche of the Post Civil War Life of......more

Catch the liveshow book review of this book with myself and another book tuber. You will also notice the author is in the chat discussing the book with us [URL not allowed]......more