Before this book, I knew nothing of Hattie McDaniels except she played a maid in the movie Gone with the Wind and other movies and television.    I was thrilled to find out that she was the first black woman to win an Oscar/Academy Award for playing a maid in the Gone with the Wind movie based on Civil War America.

The author, Ms. ReShonda Tate, has done a wonderful job re-creating Ms. McDaniel’s life from her research as well as her own creative writing.  The sequence of her experiences was so well written.  Many times, I hollered at Hattie’s choice of men in the book as well as the amount of money she spent on parties to which White as well as Black attended. 

I also hollered at the movie producers and black newsmen who were not able to see Hattie as anything but a maid in all her movie roles, radio, as well as in television roles.  Ms. Hattie was dark like me, overweight like I was, and like me, she was an educated woman who could have played more diverse parts and was a sorority sister.  

I could identify even today with the prejudice from our own black people.  In the fifth grade, we had a brown skin teacher the color of cinnamon or a paper bag at that time, who didn’t like any children who were darker than her and treated us darker children badly.  Thank God our sixth-grade teacher, a very light black woman, treated all of us the same.

Unfortunately, I’ve never seen the whole Gone with the Wind movie at four hours long.   But, in the parts of the movie I did see, I had no problem with the way blacks spoke in the movie.  She represented well as Blacks were not allowed to be educated at that time in American history.   The woman “Mammy” she represented in the movie was realistic to me, educated in common sense and experience of life.

What upset me was the way Ms. Daniels was treated by the NAACP at that time who said she, an actress, did not represent black people. And shamed her for her dark skin as well.  This just pits dark women against light women, but all women are beautiful.  Reminds me of the Ray Burton and Helen Reddy song, “I Am Woman”.

Ms. Tate said her book was a historical novel and used as much historical fact as possible.   I am so sorry that after Ms. Daniel’s triumphs, she was not allowed to be buried in the Hollywood Cemetery because of her color.   I so appreciate the book, The Queen of Sugar Hill by ReShonda Tate.

Written by Rosa Griffin

4/12/25