On Monday, March 25, 2002, Black actors and actresses in Hollywood made history, when two major actors garnered coveted awards for best actor (Denzel Washington) "Training Day" and best actress (Halle Berry) "Monster's Ball" at the 74th Academy Awards.  Until March 25, 2002, only one black actor had won the lead role in 73 years and that went to the actor Sidney Poiter, in 1963 for the movie entitled, "Lilies of the Field".  Since 1970, Blacks have garnered thirty-one nominations compared to eight in the previous forty years.

The list of nominees reads like a "Who's Who of Black Hollywood" ranging from Hattie McDaniel to John Singleton.  The following list details both winner and nominees since the history of the Academy Awards.  It details the legacy that Blacks have contributed to the major motion film industry, both past and present in front and behind the camera.

Congratulations to Denzel Washington and Halle Berry for breaking one of the many barriers to the Academy Red Carpet!

BLACK OSCAR NOMINATIONS AND WINNERS

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR & ACTRESS

Hattie McDaniel (Gone With the Wind, 1939) – Winner Best Supporting Actress

Ethel Waters (Pinky, 1949)

Juanita Moore (Imitation of Life, 1959)

Beah Richards (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, 1967)

Alfre Woodard (Cross Creek, 1983)

Whoopi Goldberg (The Color Purple, 1985)

Oprah Winfrey (The Color Purple, 1985)

Margaret Avery (The Color Purple, 1985)

Rupert Crosse (The Rievers, 1969)

Paul Winfield (Sounder, 1972)

Louis Gossett, Jr. (An Officer and a Gentleman, 1982) – Winner Best Support Actor

Adolph Caesar (A Soldier's Story, 1984)

Danny Glover (The Color Purple, 1985)

Morgan Freeman (Street Smart, 1988)

Denzel Washington (Cry Freedom, 1988)

Denzel Washington (Glory, 1989) – Winner Best Support Actor

Whoopi Goldberg (Ghost, 1990) – Winner Best Support Actress  

Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction, 1994)

Cuba Gooding, Jr. (Jerry Maguire, 1996) – Winner Best Supporting Actor

Queen Latifah (Chicago-Mama Morton, 2002)  

BEST ACTOR & ACTRESSES

James Baskett (Uncle Remus, Song of the South, 1948) -Honorary Oscar 

Dorothy Dandridge (Carmen Jones, 1954)

Sidney Poitier (The Defiant Ones, 1958)

Sidney Poiter (Lilies of the Field, 1963) – Winner Best Actor

James Earl Jones (The Great White Hope, 1970)

Diana Ross (Lady Sings the Blues, 1972)

Cicely Tyson (Sounder, 1972)

Diahann Carroll (Claudine, 1974)

Dexter Gordon(Round Midnight, 1986)

Morgan Freeman (Driving Miss Daisy, 1989)

Denzel Washington (Malcolm X, 1992)

Angela Bassett (What's Love Got to do With It, 1993)

Laurence Fishburne (What's Love Got to do With It, 1993)

Morgan Freeman (Shawshank Redemption, 1994)

Halle Berry (Monster’s Ball, 2001) – Winner Best Actress

Will Smith(Ali, 2001)

Denzel Washington (Training Day, 2001) – Winner Best Actor

BEST DIRECTOR

John Singleton (Boyz in the Hood, 1990)  

BEST DIRECTOR -LIVE ACTION SHORT

Dianne Houston (Tuesday Morning Ride, 1996)  

BEST MOVIE THEME

ISAAC HAYES (THEME TO SHAFT, 1971)

BEST MOVIE THEME

QUINCY JONES (THE COLOR PURPLE, 1985) 

3 NOMINATIONS