(This whole post h/t to Dorman.)
Louis Gossett, Jr., died today, at the age of 87.
Something interesting about Mr Gossett is that when he won his Oscar for Supporting Actor for An Officer and a Gentleman, he was only the third African-American person to win an acting Oscar of any kind. (Edit: a previous version of this post incorrectly stated he was only the 3rd Black winner of any Oscar at all, and that’s not true; Isaac Hayes won Best Song in 1973.)
Most famously, Hattie MacDaniel won for Supporting Actress in 1939 for Gone With the Wind. A Black person would get a statue again until Sidney Poitier won Actor for Lilies of the Field in 1963 (which was his second nomination in the category; he’d been there in 1958 for The Defiant Ones.
And the next Oscar after that was 19 years later and Mr Gossett.
There’s a lot at the aforementioned link, but your timeline of Actor category wins is:
| No. | Year | Category | Actor | Film |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1939 | Supporting Actress | Hattie McDaniel | Gone with the Wind |
| 2 | 1963 | Actor | Sidney Poitier | Lilies of the Field |
| 3 | 1982 | Supporting Actor | Louis Gossett, Jr. | An Officer and a Gentleman |
| 4 | 1989 | Supporting Actor | Denzel Washington | Glory |
| 5 | 1990 | Supporting Actress | Whoopie Goldberg | Ghost |
| 6 | 1996 | Supporting Actor | Cuba Gooding, Jr. | Jerry Maguire |
| 7 | 2001 | Actor | Denzel Washington | Training Day |
| 8 | 2001 | Actress | Halle Berry | Monster’s Ball |
| 9 | 2004 | Supporting Actor | Morgan Freeman | Million Dollar Baby |
| 10 | 2004 | Actor | Jamie Fox | Ray |
| 11 | 2006 | Supporting Actress | Jennifer Hudson | Dreamgirls |
| 12 | 2006 | Actor | Forest Whitaker | The Last King of Scotland |
| 13 | 2009 | Supporting Actress | Mo’Nique | Precious |
| 14 | 2011 | Supporting Actress | Octavia Spenser | The Help |
| 15 | 2013 | Supporting Actress | Lupita Nyong’o | 12 Years a Slave |
| 16 | 2016 | Supporting Actress | Viola Davis | Fences |
| 17 | 2016 | Supporting Actor | Mahershala Ali | Moonlight |
| 18 | 2018 | Supporting Actress | Regina King | If Beale Street Could Talk |
| 19 | 2018 | Supporting Actor | Mahershala Ali | Green Book |
| 20 | 2020 | Supporting Actor | Daniel Kaluuya | Judas & The Black Messiah |
| 21 | 2021 | Supporting Actress | Ariana DeBose | West Side Story |
| 22 | 2021 | Actor | Will Smith | King Richard |
| 23 | 2023 | Supporting Actress | Da’Vine Joy Randolph | The Holdovers |
I don’t watch every year, but I absolutely remember 2001 with crystal clarity. Denzel and Halle, on stage together, was electric.
Additionally, in terms of the biggie awards, Steve McQueen won Picture for 12 Years a Slave. No African American has ever won Director despite nominations by John Singleton (Boyz n the Hood), Lee Daniels (Precious), Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave), Barry Jenkins (Moonlight), Jordan Peele (Get Out), and Spike Lee (BlacKKKlansman).