Mississippi Today
On this day in 1940


Feb. 29, 1940

Hattie McDaniel became the first Black American to win an Oscar, playing the role of the servant Mammy in the film “Gone With the Wind.”
The daughter of a gospel singer and a veteran of the Union Army, she spent a lifetime fighting racism in her long career, which included singing the blues and performing on the radio. After the stock market crash in 1929, she could only find work cleaning bathrooms at a Milwaukee-area club. The owner finally agreed to let her on stage, and she became a regular performer.
McDaniel went on to appear in more than 300 films, singing with Paul Robeson and others and performing with everyone from Jimmy Stewart to the Three Stooges.
Thinking she had little chance to get the part in “Gone With the Wind” because of her reputation as a comic actress, she showed up at the audition in an authentic maid’s uniform and won the role. She said she felt she understood the role because her own grandmother had worked on a plantation similar to Tara.
Despite her stellar performance, Georgia’s segregation laws barred her from going to the film’s premiere in Atlanta. When Clark Gable threatened to boycott, she convinced him to attend anyway. She did, however, attend the Hollywood screening of the film.
After being handed the Oscar, she told those gathered, “This is one of the happiest moments of my life, and I want to thank each one of you who had a part in selecting me for one of their awards, for your kindness. It has made me feel very, very humble; and I shall always hold it as a beacon for anything that I may be able to do in the future. I sincerely hope I shall always be a credit to my race and to the motion picture industry. My heart is too full to tell you just how I feel, and may I say thank you and God bless you.”
When some criticized her for accepting that role and others like it, she replied, “Why should I complain about making $700 a week playing a maid? If I didn’t, I’d be making $7 a week being one.”
During World War II, she chaired the Negro Division of the Hollywood Victory Committee, performing with actress Bette Davis for the troops. When white residents of Los Angeles sought to have Black families evicted through race restrictive covenants, she helped fight the matter in court, and the families won.
In the years that followed, McDaniel became the first Black actor to star in her own radio show with the comedy series, “Beulah,” and replaced Ethel Waters in the TV version of the show. After filming a handful of episodes, she had to quit because she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
Racism kept her from being buried in the then-whites-only Hollywood Forever Cemetery. (Cemetery officials later put up a monument honoring her.) Thousands attended her funeral service, and two stars honor her on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (one for radio and one for film).
In 2006, the U.S. Postal Service featured her on a stamp, and four years later, when Mo’Nique received an Oscar for her performance in “Precious,” she appeared in a blue dress and gardenias in her hair, just as McDaniel had, and thanked the late star “for enduring all that she had to so that I would not have to.”
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
MS House member agrees to pre-trial program after indictment
Rep. Keith Jackson, a Democratic lawmaker from Kemper County, can remain in office despite a felony indictment by participating in a pre-trial intervention program, according to court documents.
A grand jury last year indicted Jackson, a first-term House member, on charges of receiving stolen property – specifically, a 2006 Magnolia timber trailer worth about $15,000. The grand jury also indicted two other people, Fredwrick (sic) Young and William Tate, in connection with the criminal charges.
Jackson did not respond to a request for comment, and his attorney, Christopher Collins, declined to comment.
Cassie Colman, the district attorney in the 10th circuit district, told Mississippi Today that the state agreed to let Jackson participate in pretrial intervention because he had no prior criminal record. If Jackson completes the terms of the pre-trial agreement, then the criminal charges will be expunged from his record.
Going to trial would likely be risky for the lawmaker because, if convicted of the offense, he could lose the right to hold elected office.
Receiving stolen property is a disenfranchising crime in Mississippi, and if someone is convicted of a disenfranchising crime, they lose their right to vote. To run for office in Mississippi, someone must be a registered voter.
But Coleman, who prosecuted the case against Jackson, said the legislator’s agreement to enter the program is neither a guilty plea nor a conviction. Instead, he will enroll in the intervention program for at least a year and pay around $3,350 in fees, according to court documents.
If he fails to meet the terms of the agreement, the district attorney could remove him from the program and prosecute him for the original crime.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
The article presents factual information about a Mississippi House member’s legal situation, focusing on the details of the pre-trial intervention program and the potential consequences if he fails to meet the terms. There is no overt political commentary or slant, and it primarily reports on the legal process and actions taken by both the accused lawmaker and the prosecuting district attorney. The tone is neutral, and it avoids sensationalizing the case or making political judgments. Given the absence of opinion or partisanship, the content is categorized as centrist.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1951, Ruby Hurley opened NAACP office in South
April 28, 1951

Ruby Hurley opened the first permanent office of the NAACP in the South.
Her introduction to civil rights activism began when she helped organize Marian Anderson’s 1939 concert at the Lincoln Memorial. Four years later, she became national youth secretary for the NAACP. In 1951, she opened the organization’s office in Birmingham to grow memberships in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee.
When she arrived in Mississippi, there were only 800 NAACP members. After the governor made remarks she disagreed with, she wrote a letter to the editor that was published in a Mississippi newspaper. After that step in courage, membership grew to 4,000.
“They were surprised and glad to find someone to challenge the governor,” she told the Chicago Defender. “No Negro had ever challenged the governor before.”
She helped Medgar Evers investigate the 1955 murder of Emmett Till and other violence against Black Americans. Despite threats, she pushed on.
“When you’re in the middle of these situations, there’s no room for fear,” she said. “If you have fear in your heart or mind, you can’t do a good job.”
After an all-white jury acquitted Till’s killers, she appeared on the front cover of Jet magazine with the headline, “Most Militant Negro Woman in the South.”
Months later, she helped Autherine Lucy become the first Black student at the University of Alabama.
For her work, she received many threats, including a bombing attempt on her home. She opened an NAACP office in Atlanta, where she served as a mentor for civil rights leader Vernon Jordan, with whom she worked extensively and who went on to serve as an adviser to President Bill Clinton.
After learning of Evers’ assassination in 1963, she became overwhelmed with sorrow. “I cried for three hours,” she said. “I shall always remember that pool of blood in which he lay and that spattered blood over the car where he tried to drag himself into the house.”
She died two years after retiring from the NAACP in 1978, and the U.S. Post Office recognized her work in the Civil Rights Pioneers stamp series. In 2022, she was portrayed in the ABC miniseries, “Women of the Movement.”
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
This content is primarily focused on the historical and personal achievements of Ruby Hurley, a civil rights activist. It emphasizes her dedication and bravery in challenging oppressive systems and advocating for racial justice. The narrative does not appear to endorse or criticize any contemporary political positions but highlights Hurley’s work with the NAACP and her role in significant civil rights events. While it mentions her opposition to certain government figures and the threat she faced, the tone is largely factual and centered on her contributions to history, which supports a centrist position without leaning toward a particular ideological side.
Mississippi Today
Podcast: Mississippi citizens often left in the dark on special-interest lobbying of politicians
The post Podcast: Mississippi citizens often left in the dark on special-interest lobbying of politicians appeared first on mississippitoday.org
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Left
This content reflects a Center-Left bias primarily due to its focus on transparency issues regarding special-interest spending and lobbying in Mississippi. The mention of negative implications associated with lobbying efforts suggests an advocacy for accountability and reform, which aligns with a progressive stance often seen in Center-Left discourse. Additionally, the subject matter, involving regulation of online sports betting, typically garners support from more liberal perspectives concerned about consumer protection and ethical governance.
-
SuperTalk FM6 days ago
New Amazon dock operations facility to bring 1,000 jobs to Marshall County
-
News from the South - Missouri News Feed2 days ago
Missouri lawmakers on the cusp of legalizing housing discrimination
-
News from the South - Alabama News Feed7 days ago
Prayer Vigil Held for Ronald Dumas Jr., Family Continues to Pray for His Return | April 21, 2025 | N
-
News from the South - Florida News Feed6 days ago
Trump touts manufacturing while undercutting state efforts to help factories
-
News from the South - Florida News Feed6 days ago
Federal report due on Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina’s path to recognition as a tribal nation
-
News from the South - Oklahoma News Feed6 days ago
Oklahoma Treasurer’s Office Faces Scrutiny Over Use of Signal in Anti-ESG Coordination
-
Mississippi Today4 days ago
Struggling water, sewer systems impose ‘astronomic’ rate hikes
-
Mississippi Today1 day ago
Derrick Simmons: Monday’s Confederate Memorial Day recognition is awful for Mississippians