71 years after the actor’s death, the Academy will replace “Gone With the Wind” star Hattie McDaniel with the Oscar.

The Academy Awards will finally honor actress Hattie McDaniel after she was lost in the 1960s. As Variety reports, the ceremony called “Hattie’s Come Home.”) will take place tomorrow in Washington, DC. Chadwick A. Bosman College of Fine Arts at Howard University.

in 1940, Hattie McDaniel Made history as the first black person to be nominated and win an Oscar for his supporting role as “Dad” in Gone with the Wind (1939). At the 12th Academy Awards, the actor and his guest were seated separately from the other nominees for the film. At the time, the plaque, not the statue, was reserved for awards for supporting actors. Everything changed only in 1943.

But for years there have been rumors about where the said plaque might be placed. In 1998, Howard University stated that it could not find any written record to prove that the actor had actually received the award. A 2007 Huffington Post article revived rumors that Oscar was thrown into the Potomac by angry civil rights protesters in the 1960s, a claim that reappeared in the Huffington Post in 2009. until she died of breast cancer in 1952. Hattie McDaniel He specified that his prize should be given to Howard University.

Hattie comes home

The ceremony celebrates life and legacy Hattie McDanielhis historic win and will combine his prize with the long historically black university, as originally planned.

“Hattie McDaniel was a revolutionary artist who changed the course of cinema and left her mark on generations of artists who followed her.Stewart and Academy Executive Director Bill Kramer said in a statement. “We are pleased to present the Hattie McDaniel Academy Award to Howard University. This momentous occasion celebrates Hattie McDaniel’s remarkable feat and historic victory.“

It took 50 years after that for another black actress to win an Oscar, in the person of Whoopi Goldberg, for her supporting role in Ghost.

Phylicia Rashad, Dean of the Faculty, said:I am delighted that this Oscar goes to Howard University’s Chadwick A. at Bosman College of Fine Arts. This huge piece of history will return to the Faculty of Fine Arts so that our students can be inspired by it. Mrs. Hetty is coming home!“

full speech Hattie McDaniel It is part of the Oscar Academy History Gallery Museum. However, it is in an empty display case, which the museum plans to keep indefinitely.