26 Famous Firsts by Black Artists in Hollywood History

The Lincoln Motion Picture Company was founded by brothers Noble and George Johnson in in Omaha, Neb., and relocated to Los Angeles after a year. Producing content aimed at Black audiences, the company made and distributed five films, usually shown in churches and meeting halls, before closing in 1923.

Oscar Micheaux was America’s first major Black filmmaker. He directed and produced 44 films over the course of his career. His movies depicted contemporary African-Americans in a nuanced and complex way, to counter the negative on-screen characterizations of Blacks that were common at the time.

Singer Ethel Waters made history when she hosted a one-hour American television variety special that ran on NBC on June 14, 1939, becoming the first Black person to host her own show. She may also have been the first Black person to appear on television. Waters also was the first African-American woman to be nominated for a primetime Emmy.

Hattie McDaniel became the first Black actor to win an Oscar, for Best Supporting Actress for portraying the sassy maid Mammy in “Gone With the Wind.” The city of Atlanta forbade McDaniel and other Black actors from attending the movie’s premiere there on Dec. 15, 1939. At the Academy Awards ceremony, McDaniel was seated apart from her fellow white actors. Though the award made history, McDaniel was criticized for perpetuating servile stereotypes.

Singer-actress Dorothy Dandridge was the first African-American woman to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, for her role in the movie “Carmen Jones.” Among her other notable films were “Island in the Sun” and “Porgy and Bess.” Dandridge’s life was unfortunately complicated by financial and alcohol problems, and she died from barbiturate poisoning in 1965.

Ethel Waters may have hosted a single TV variety show special in 1939, but mild-mannered crooner Nat “King” Cole, who had 31 songs chart on the Billboard Hot 100 during his career, became the first the African-American to host a whole TV variety series. Appearing on NBC, it was canceled after a year due to lack of sponsors.

After switching to the big screen from television, Sidney Poitier earned a place in Hollywood history by becoming the first Black actor to be nominated for an Oscar as Best Actor. He played an escaped prisoner in “The Defiant Ones” who is chained to a racist prisoner portrayed by Tony Curtis.

Harry Belafonte took home an Emmy for outstanding performance in a variety or musical program for “Tonight with Belafonte.” Four years earlier, the calypso singer and activist had made history when he became the first Black person to be nominated for an Emmy.

The accomplished actress Cecily Tyson was the first Black woman to star in a TV drama – “East Side/West Side.” She went on to be nominated for an Academy Award for “Sounder” in 1972. Other noteworthy roles included playing Kunta Kinte’s mother in the adaptation of Alex Haley’s “Roots” and the titular role for “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,” which earned her two Emmy Awards in 1974. In 2018, she became the first Black actress to receive an honorary Oscar.

Sidney Poitier became the first Black actor to win an Oscar for Best Actor, for his performance in “Lilies of the Field.” Poitier plays an itinerant handyman who builds a chapel for German nuns living in Arizona. He would also win an honorary Academy Award in 2002.

Bill Cosby’s comedy career was taking off when he landed the role of the easy-going spy Alexander Scott opposite Robert Culp in “I Spy,” becoming the first Black actor to have a leading role in a TV series. The breezy one-hour adventure series ran for three seasons on NBC and earned Cosby three Primetime Emmy Awards from 1966 to 1968.

Gail Fisher became the first Black actress to win an Emmy for outstanding performance by an actress in a supporting role. Fisher played the smart, classy secretary Peggy Fair in the crime drama show “Mannix.” She was nominated four times for the role.

Bill Cosby made television history again by creating, producing, hosting, and starring in the first cartoon with an all-Black cast – “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.” The program, based on Cosby’s memories of his childhood friends, ran until 1985.

Before she was known as Lenny Kravitz’s mom, Roxie Roker broke barriers on television by becoming half of TV’s first interracial couple on the comedy “The Jeffersons.” Among her other acting credits are “Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper,” “Fantasy Island,” and “All in the Family.”

BET – Black Entertainment Television – founded by entrepreneur Robert L. Johnson and his then-wife, Sheila, was the first network developed primarily for African-American viewers. (The two no longer own the network.) They are believed to be the first Black American male and female billionaires.

Louis Gossett Jr. became the first Black man to win the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his role as the in-your-face sergeant in “An Officer and a Gentleman.”

Arsenio Hall gained widespread recognition for appearing with Eddie Murphy in “Coming to America” in 1988. A year later, Hall became America’s first Black late-night talk-show host. Among the highlights on his show, which ran until 1994, was the 1992 appearance of presidential candidate Bill Clinton playing the saxophone.

In 1992, Julie Dash made “Daughters of the Dust,” becoming the first Black woman to direct and produce a full-length movie. Twelve years later, it was included in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.

John Singleton the first African-American to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director, for his searing look at inner-city life, “Boyz n the Hood,” much of which was based on his own experiences in South Central Los Angeles. He also was nominated for Best Screenplay for the film – and he remains the youngest filmmaker of any race to receive the Best Director nomination (he was 24 at the time).

Denzel Washington added to his Oscar hardware by becoming the first Black actor to win more than one Academy Award. Washington copped his second Oscar, for Best Actor, by playing a rogue Los Angeles narcotics officer in “Training Day.” He won his first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for “Glory” in 1990.

Halle Berry became the first Black woman to win an Academy Award as a leading actress for her role as the emotionally tormented wife of an executed man in “Monster’s Ball.” Berry has been nominated for an Emmy three times and won for her portrayal of Dorothy Dandridge in the 1999 HBO movie “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge.”

The EGOT distinction – winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony – is an exclusive club with just 17 members. Whoopi Goldberg is among them as the first (and so far only) African-American.

After working in various publicity and marketing roles in the motion-picture industry, Boone Isaacs scaled the ladder to become the first African-American elected as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which gives out the Academy Awards.

Writer, producer, and actress Lena Waithe became the first Black woman to win an Emmy for comedy writing. Waithe, who plays Denise in the Netflix series “Master Of None,” won for writing the series’ coming-out episode, “Thanksgiving.”

Donald Glover, whom TV audiences might remember as part of the “Community” cast, became the first Black person to win an Emmy for directing a comedy series, “Atlanta.” Glover also won that year for outstanding lead actor in a comedy series, also for “Atlanta.”

“Black Panther” was a cultural phenomenon in 2018. The action movie became the first Black-directed film – it was helmed by Ryan Coogler – to be a year’s top-grossing film. The blockbuster also became the first superhero movie to receive a Best Picture Oscar nomination.