The Oscar colours: black, white and gold

IN 1940, when Hattie McDaniel became the first black Oscar winner (she won best supporting actress for her role in Gone With The Wind), presenter Fay Bainter gave a speech which at the time was considered edgy and courageous. Bainter praised the academy for embracing “the whole of America; an America that we love, an America that almost alone in the world today recognises and pays tribute to those who give her their best, regardless of creed, race, or colour”.

All very well, but it took until 2002 for a black woman to win the best actress award. Halle Berry took it for Monster’s Ball. Berry dedicated her Oscar to “every nameless, faceless woman of colour that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened”.

The door did not open all the way. Fast-forward to 2015 and the start of the #OscarsSoWhite controversy. One of the catalysts for this was the snubbing of Selma director Ava DuVernay, who, despite wide critical acclaim for her Martin Luther King jnr biopic, did not receive an Oscar nomination.

John Legend, who won best original song for Glory, featured in the film, said in his speech that “Selma is now, because the struggle for justice is right now”.

(Legend is an executive producer of La La Land, which has been nominated for 14 Oscars, so he might get the chance to make another fiery statement tonight — which he will, if his angry repudiation of US President Trump at the Producers Guild of America Awards was anything to go by.)

Since #OscarsSoWhite, the academy has attempted to redress its imbalances by appointing more diverse voting members, and this year’s nominee lineup shows progress.