Hattie McDaniel is best known for her performance as Mammy, the sassy foil to Scarlett O"Hara in Gone with the Wind. Though the role called for yet another wide-grinned, subservient black domestic, McDaniel transformed her character into one who was loyal yet subversive, devoted yet bossy. Her powerful performance would win her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress and catapult the hopes of Black Hollywood that the entertainment industry - after decades of stereotypical characters - was finally ready to write more multidimensional, fully realized roles for blacks. But racism was so entrenched in Hollywood that despite pleas by organizations such as the NAACP and SAG - and the very examples that Black service men were setting as they fought against Hitler in WWII - roles for blacks continued to denigrate the African American experience. So rather than see her stature increase in Hollywood, as did other Oscar-winning actresses, Hattie McDaniel, continued to play servants. And...