The Academy will present the replacement award to Howard University at an Oct. 1 ceremony in Washington D.C.
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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will bestow a replacement Oscar for supporting actress winner Hattie McDaniel to Howard University’s Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts during a ceremony titled “Hattie’s Come Home” in Washington D.C. on Oct. 1.
Taking place at the Ira Aldridge Theater, the ceremony will celebrate McDaniels’ life and legacy, her historic Academy Award win, and reunite her prize with the long-running HBCU, as she originally intended. The event will include opening remarks by Phylicia Rashad, dean of the College of Fine Arts, along with a performance of a medley of songs from current students and an excerpt from LaDarrion Williams’ play “Boulevard of Bold Dreams.”
Jacqueline Stewart, president of the Academy Museum and Teni Melidonian, executive vice president of Oscars strategy, will present the prize to the university. In addition, Stewart will also host a conversation with Rashad, Howard professors Greg Carr, associate professor of Africana Studies and chair of the department of Afro-American Studies, and Khalid Long, associate professor of theater arts at Howard, along with Thea Combs, director of curatorial affairs at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery and Kevin John Goff, filmmaker and McDaniels’ great-grandnephew.
“Hattie McDaniel was a groundbreaking artist who changed the course of cinema and impacted generations of performers who followed her,” Stewart and Bill Kramer, Academy CEO, said in a statement. “We are thrilled to present a replacement of Hattie McDaniel’s Academy Award to Howard University. This momentous occasion will celebrate Hattie McDaniel’s remarkable craft and historic win.”