Mo'Nique referenced actress Hattie McDaniel several times Sunday night during and after the Academy Awards.
"The reason why I have on this royal blue dress is because it's the color that Hattie McDaniel wore in 1940 when she accepted her Oscar," Mo'Nique, who won Best Supporting Actress for "Precious," said backstage. "The reason why I have this gardenia in my hair, it is the flower that Hattie McDaniel wore when she accepted her Oscar.
"So for you, Miss Hattie McDaniel, I feel you all over me, and it's about time that the world feels you all over them."
McDaniel won an Oscar in 1939 for her role in "Gone With the Wind," but her influence went beyond the film industry. The West Adams Heritage Association has a look back at McDaniel's life in LA's West Adams district and her fight for civil rights.
Hattie McDaniel lived in West Adams on Country Club Drive. She was a leader in organizing against racial segregation in her neighborhood by getting restrictive covenants outlawed in 1948. She and her black neighbors took the case all the way to the Supreme Court, where they won the case.
The neighborhood between downtown and the USC campus has rich architectural history. In the early 1900s, West Adams was home to some of LA's wealthiest entrepreneurs.
In the 1930s, many black entertainers, including McDaniel, actress Louise Beavers and jazz artist Earl Grant, moved into the neighborhood. It was dubbed "Sugar Hill."
Some white residents formed a racial restriction covenant in an effort to keep blacks from owning homes in the neighborhood. A December 1945 TIME magazine article described the court case:
Judge Clarke threw the case out of court. His reason: "It is time that members of the Negro race are accorded, without reservations or evasions, the full rights guaranteed them under the 14th Amendment to the Federal Constitution. Judges have been avoiding the real issue too long."
Said Hattie McDaniel, of West Adams Heights: "Words cannot express my appreciation."
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McDaniel died in 1952.
According to the West Adams Heritage Association:
McDaniel asked to be buried in Hollywood Memorial Park (now Hollywood Forever) but the cemetery refused on racial grounds. She was buried in Rosedale Cemetery in West Adams.
There is a cenotaph memorial on the lawn at Hollywood Forever Cementery in honor of McDaniel.
McDaniel has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. One star is for her contributions to radio at 6933 Hollywood Blvd . The other star is for motion pictures at 1719 Vine St.
