( CNN ) -- On a winter evening in early 1940 , Hattie McDaniel became the first black performer to win an Oscar , a best supporting actress honor for her performance as Mammy , the servant in `` Gone With the Wind . '' Will Smith has overcome racial boundaries but can do more , says an expert in race-based casting . She accepted her award at the Academy Awards ceremony at the Coconut Grove , a nightclub in Los Angeles ' Ambassador Hotel , where she was seated in the segregated section at the rear of the room . Though her win was played as a sign of progress for black actors in America -- `` Not only was she the first of her race to receive an Award , but she was also the first Negro ever to sit at an Academy banquet , '' said Daily Variety , according to Mason Wiley and Damien Bona 's indispensable `` Inside Oscar '' -- her role was poorly received by much of the black community . The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People claimed that the part was stereotypical and degrading . `` I think [ the NAACP ] were correct , '' said Jill Watts , author of `` Hattie McDaniel : Black Ambition , White Hollywood . '' But , Watts added , `` McDaniel knew that 'If I reject these maid roles , [ black people ] wo n't be on the screen . ' And her point was , 'we need a presence within the industry . ' `` Nearly 70 years after McDaniel 's win , black performers have certainly come far . Actors like Sidney Poitier , Denzel Washington and Halle Berry have broken boundaries in making their mark on the film industry . But black actors have been few and far between at the Oscars . In its 80-year history , the Academy has awarded 11 black actors with trophies , six of whom won in this decade . This year , two black actors are nominated for Academy Awards : Viola Davis for her role in `` Doubt '' and Taraji P. Henson for her part in `` The Curious Case of Benjamin Button . '' Watch Viola Davis talk about the Oscars » . Tom O'Neil , entertainment reporter for the Los Angeles Times ' TheEnvelope.com and founder of GoldDerby.com , a Web site dedicated to predicting and analyzing award show wins , said the Academy finally began making an effort to recognize black actors after Halle Berry and Denzel Washington won Oscars in 2002 . `` The Oscars were notoriously stingy to black actors , '' O'Neil said . `` It was that year that it became such a huge issue in the media and Hollywood really woke up to this issue . '' O'Neil claims that Hollywood has improved in its recognition of black actors , but the Academy 's failure to nominate 2006 's `` Dreamgirls '' for best picture , for example , is a sign that Oscar voters simply do n't understand such films culturally . `` I do n't believe that there 's an element of racism . It 's an inability to relate to the drama being portrayed , '' O'Neil said . `` The largely white Academy just did n't get [ 'Dreamgirls ' ] . They were n't emotionally engaged in the story . '' Although awarding Oscars to 11 black actors is `` stingy , '' O'Neil said , `` you have to compare that to the number of quality films that gave good roles to actors . '' That 's the problem , said Russell Robinson , a professor of law at the University of California - Los Angeles , who wrote a 2006 report about unfair race-based casting in Hollywood . `` It 's an industry norm that the assumption is that roles go to white actors , '' Robinson said . `` They use people of color to flesh out the film and exemplify racial stereotypes . '' Robinson 's report , `` Hollywood 's Race/Ethnicity And Gender-Based Casting : Prospects For A Title VII Lawsuit , '' found that the majority of roles that do not specify a race or ethnicity are played by white actors , which tends to limit black actors to stereotypical roles . `` I think what bothers a lot of African-Americans is that we see the same images time and time again . ... We 'd like to see the full range of complexities that we see in our communities , '' Robinson said . In the past , black actors did n't have much of choice when it came to playing stereotypical parts , said John Forbes , executive director of the Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center , a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting films featuring black actors . `` People had to do what they had to do in those days on and off the screen to survive , '' he said . In the early 1900s , that often meant playing caricature roles like that of Stepin Fetchit , a foolish and weak character created and played by Lincoln Perry , who eventually became the first black millionaire actor . With the arrival of Poitier to the film industry in the 1950s , Hollywood seemed to change its perspective of black actors . iReport.com : Who will win at the Oscars ? `` Poitier was able to create a character that was always strong . The black male image that he portrayed on the screen was something that everyone was proud of , '' Forbes said . More recently , actors like Will Smith have been successful in overcoming racial boundaries because they 're profitable , Robinson said . But with their success also comes responsibility . As the biggest box office star in the world , Smith , Robinson believes , is obligated to push Hollywood to make changes . With Smith 's 2005 film `` Hitch , '' `` the studio would not cast a black woman as Will Smith 's love interest in the film because they did n't want the film to be a 'black film , ' `` Robinson said . `` I would hope that Will challenged that decision . ... I would hope that Will would try to get black actors hired . '' Robinson added , `` the question is , 'How can you use that power to help other people ? ' ``
Hattie McDaniel was the first black performer to win an Academy Award . Reporter says 2002 was a breakthrough year for black actors . In 80 years , 11 black actors have been awarded Oscars . Score: 6