This post is part of a weekly series celebrating #ThrowbackThursday with reflections of our favorite childhood memories, past pop culture moments and more!
Viola Davis's historic Emmy win for Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series, as well as wins for both Regina King and Uzo Aduba, shows actors of color, particularly women, are rightfully being acknowledged and rewarded for their talent.
The diversity of this year's Emmy nominations was a big improvement in comparison to this year's Academy Awards, which severely lacked any people of color and spawned the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite. While it's important to celebrate greater representation for racial minorities, it's obvious that there is more work to be done.
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For the past 75 years, since Hattie McDaniel became the first person of color to ever receive an Academy Award in 1940, black stars have broken barriers and created opportunities for future generations of actors, actresses, screenwriters, directors, and producers to have a place in TV and film.
Here are the 25 black stars that were the first to pioneer the entertainment industry on both the big and small screen, in front of and behind the camera. Check out their incredible achievements below.
1
Hattie McDaniel, 1940, Oscar For Best Supporting Actress
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McDaniel won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role of Mammy in the 1939 film "Gone With The Wind," making her the first black actor, male or female, to win an Academy Award. Five other black actresses have won this Oscar since McDaniel's landmark achievement: Whoopi Goldberg in 1991 for "Ghost," Jennifer Hudson in 2007 for "Dreamgirls," Monique in 2010 for "Precious," Octavia Spencer in 2012 for "The Help," and Lupita Nyongo in 2014 for "12 Years A Slave."
2
Dorothy Dandridge, 1955, Oscar Nomination For Best Actress In A Leading Role
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Fifteen years after McDaniel's Supporting Actress win, Dorothy Dandridge became the first black actress nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Actress in a Leading Role category for her titular performance in the musical "Carmen Jones" in 1955.
3
Diahann Carroll, 1963, Emmy Nomination
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Diahann Carroll played a single mother and nurse in "Julia," which was the first primetime series with a black female lead. Although Carroll did not win an Emmy for her performance in "Julia," she was the first black person, male or female, to ever be nominated for an Emmy for her guest role on "Naked City" in 1963. Carroll's career pioneered opportunities for other shows to feature black actors in non-stereotypical roles but as lead characters.
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4
Isaac Hayes, 1972, Oscar For Best Original Song
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"Theme from Shaft" composer Isaac Hayes was the first black person to win a non-acting Academy Award for his work on the 1972 film "Shaft," as well as the first winner in the Best Original Song category.
5
"Live And Let Die," 1973, Black Bond Girl
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American actress Gloria Hendry played Rosie Carver, the first black Bond Girl, alongside British actor Roger Moore as secret agent James Bond in 1973's "Live and Let Die." Since then there have been other black Bond Girls such as Grace Jones as May Day in 1985's "A View To A Kill" and Halle Berry as Jinx Johnson in 2002's "Die Another Day."
6
Suzanne de Passe, 1972, Oscar Nominee For Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
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In 1972 de Passe received her historic nomination for "Lady Sings The Blues" starring Diana Ross as Billie Holiday. de Passe is one of three other black writers to be nominated the others are Spike Lee for 1989's "Do The Right Thing" and John Singleton for 1991's "Boyz N The Hood."
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7
Cicely Tyson, 1974, Primetime Emmy Award
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Cicely Tyson was the first black actress to win a primetime Emmy her role in "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman" for Actress of The Year, Special. Her second Emmy, for the same role, was Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama for a Special Program.
8
BET, 1979, First Black Owned TV Network
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In 1979 Robert L. Johnson started Black Entertainment Television (BET), the first black owned TV network and media empire. Although Viacom bought BET, in 2000 for more than $2 billion, Johnson still remained as chairman and chief executive of BET until 2005 when he gave the position to Debra Lee.
9
Louis Gossett Jr., 1983, Academy Award For Best Actor In A Supporting Role
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Gossett received the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor Award for his acting talents in "Officer and a Gentleman," which made him the first black actor to do so. He's spoken about the lack of acting opportunities he's had as a black actor even after his historic win. In 2013 he told The Root, "I never got a million dollars for any movie I did in 60 years." Since his win there have been three other black actors to win an Oscar in this category, Denzel Washington in 1990 for Glory, Cuba Gooding Jr. in 1997 for Jerry Maguire, and Morgan Freeman in 2005 for Million Dollar Baby.
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10
Prince, 1985, Oscar For Best Original Score
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Prince took home an Oscar for Best Original Score, an award that requires writing five songs or more for a film, at the 57th Academy Awards in 1985 for the movie "Purple Rain."
11
John Singleton, 1992, Oscar Nomination For Best Director
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At the age of 24 in 1992, John Singleton became the youngest person and first black director to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Director for "Boyz N The Hood." There has never been a black director to receive an Academy award in this category, and thus far only two other people have been nominated: Lee Daniels in 2009 for "Precious" and Steve McQueen in 2013 for "12 Years a Slave."
12
Anika Noni Rose, 2009, Disney's Princess Tiana
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Anika Noni Rose is the proud voice behind Princess Tiana who is the first, and thus far only, black member of the highly successful Disney Princess franchise. Rose's landmark performance in "The Princess and the Frog" was an important representation of a black woman in a lead role in an iconic children's movie.
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13
Geoffrey Fletcher, 2010, Oscar For Best Adapted Screenplay
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In 2010, Geoffrey Fletcher was the first black writer to win an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for "Precious," based on the novel "Push" by Sapphire. Four years later, John Ridley became the second black writer to receive this award for his adaptation of "12 Years A Slave" by Solomon Northup.
14
TJ Martin, 2012, Oscar For Best Documentary
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At the 84th Academy Awards, TJ Martin became the first black documentarian to win an Oscar for his film with fellow collaborators, Rich Middlemas and Daniel Lindsay, for their work on the football feature "Undefeated" in 2012.
15
Cheryl Boone Isaacs, 2013, First Black President Of The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences
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Boone Isaacs was elected the first black president of "The Academy" in 2013 and re-elected in August of 2015.
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16
Ava DuVernay, 2014, Golden Globe Nomination For Best Director
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DuVernay was the first black director to receive a Golden Globe nomination for Best Director for the 2014 film "Selma," about Martin Luther King's historic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
17
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CANADA - AUGUST 15: Dorothy Dandridge. Never quite reached the top. (Photo by Norman James/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
Editor's note: This list celebrates the achievements and inspiring legacies of black artists. As such, Bill Cosby, the first black actor to win an Emmy for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series in 1966, has been excluded.
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