Hattie McDaniel: "I'd rather play a maid than be one," Hattie McDaniel once announced to a divided America. But as a new biography reveals, there was nothing make-believe about the racism she endured. Here, an exclusive sneak peek

Among the many trailblazers she acknowledged, there was one name missing from Halle Berry's acceptance speech as the first African American to win a Best Actress Oscar: Hattie McDaniel. In 1940 this actress from Wichita, Kansas, won Best Supporting Actress--the first Oscar of any type awarded to an African American--for her performance in Gone with the Wind as Mammy, the head woman of the Tara plantation and the nagging conscience of that self-centered white girl, Scarlett O'Hara. It's hard to remember today that Gone with the Wind was a battleground between those who desired a romantic view of America's bloodiest conflict and others who feared the film would perpetuate racial ignorance and hatred. Even for years afterward, McDaniel's every appearance in the picture--stout and round-faced in an Aunt Jemima-style do-rag--embarrassed African Americans and their sympathizers. The civil rights movement proscribed such performances--but in doing so it pushed aside a fascinating actress, who from the beginning of her busy screen career, working with Marlene Dietrich in Blonde Venus (1932) and Katharine Hepburn in Alice Adams (1935), communicated more about her characters (and African-American life) than most of those making the movies (or watching them) cared to know. Look at Gone with the Wind today, and you'll see McDaniel create a proud character, stubbornly demanding what's right even from those she's supposed to be bowing to. In this excerpt from Jill Watts's biography of the actress, Hattie McDaniel: Black Ambition, White Hollywood (out next month from Amistad), shooting just wraps on Gone with the Wind--and then the same Old South that the film valorizes steps forward to deny McDaniel her rightful place at the Atlanta film premiere. PATRICK GILES

The situation on Gone with the Wind's set was not much better than on others that Hattie McDaniel had worked on. According to film historian Thomas Cripps, someone at MGM had hung signs designating certain restrooms as either "white only" or "black only." Only after a group of African-American performers threatened a work slowdown did the studio remove the signs. There was other evidence of persistent racism. While the studio sent individual cars to pick up the film's white stars, the black principals were forced to ride together in a single limousine that made rounds of their homes in the mornings. Hattie McDaniel was accorded her own chair with her name on it and, along with several other black players, made considerably more than some white featured actors in the cast. Nonetheless, the higher pay for those black players' achievement was understood within racist terms. Actress Evelyn Keyes, who played Suellen O'Hara, later characterized the racial climate as appalling. She observed that studio heads viewed the higher salaries of black performers as justifiable not because they deserved them but because "they were playing slaves," which "kept them in their place." Confronting the demeaning atmosphere, black players pulled together. When a black cast member shot a scene, they gathered to watch and applauded after the director cried "Cut."

In many ways, working on Gone with the Wind was such an enormous, exhausting, and chaotic undertaking that it bred camaraderie within the cast and across racial lines. In fact, it was one of the few times that such a large number of black and white performers had come together to work over a long period on a film. Evelyn Keyes noted that black and white performers often mingled comfortably; photos taken behind the scenes show them relaxing and eating side by side. And the entire cast suffered together under constant uncertainty. Striving for perfection, the controlling [producer David O.] Selznick fired George Cukor and finally hired Victor Fleming to complete the bulk of the filming. The project shifted daily; players were unexpectedly called back to reshoot scenes and dialogue. The ever-changing script even caught experienced troupers like Hattie McDaniel off-guard. "What is that rustling noise I hear, Mammy?" Gable asked as the cameras rolled and McDaniel forgot to exit. After a long pause, Gable teasingly tried again, "What is the rustling noise I was supposed to hear if you had walked away, Mammy?"

There was enormous pressure for everyone involved with Gone with the Wind, and to relieve anxiety, the film's cast sometimes resorted to high jinks. It was Gable who emerged as the production's biggest practical joker. [Technical advisor Susan] Myrick reported that during a break in a shooting of a scene with McDaniel, he switched the iced tea that she was drinking with straight scotch. When filming resumed, McDaniel took a mouthful and, caught off-guard, could barely sputter out her lines. Although Gable intended it as good-natured fun between close friends, Myrick seized on it as yet another example of the enchantingly foolish Hattie McDaniel. "The cast and crew had a 10-minute laugh," chortled Myrick. Although Gone with the Wind was intended as high drama, blacks still functioned, even in public relations, as comic relief.