<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/4/1617294612284.png" alt="Suzanne Perez / KMUW " />
 <figcaption>Suzanne Perez / KMUW </figcaption>
 </figure>By SUZANNE PEREZ <a href="https://www.kmuw.org/post/dignity-and-grace-new-historical-marker-showcases-life-legacy-hattie-mcdaniel">Kansas News Service</a>Hattie McDaniel made history as the first Black actor to win an Academy Award, for her role as Mammy in “Gone with the Wind.”Now, visitors passing her childhood home near 9th and Waco in Wichita can read all about her.A
 colorful new memorial showcasing the actor’s life and career was 
dedicated Wednesday at 925 N. Wichita, across the street from where 
McDaniel once lived. It replaces a trail marker placed there by The 
Kansas African American Museum in 2011, which was removed after the 
sign's sponsor went out of business.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/4/1617294693252.jpeg" alt=" Denise Sherman, executive director of The Kansas African American Museum, speaks at a dedication ceremony for a new marker honoring Wichita native Hattie McDaniel. Credit Hugo Phan / KMUW" />
 <figcaption> Denise Sherman, executive director of The Kansas African American Museum, speaks at a dedication ceremony for a new marker honoring Wichita native Hattie McDaniel. Credit Hugo Phan / KMUW</figcaption>
 </figure>About 100 people gathered near the new marker on a sunny afternoon to
 remember McDaniel and honor her life. Among them was Ebony 
Clemons-Ajibolade, who read an original poem, “Black Not Accepted,” by 
Kevin John Goff, a descendant of McDaniel’s.“But Wichita accepts
 her,” Clemons-Ajibolade read. “All of you here today accept her. You 
understand. You try to hold back the tears, for you were born in that 
everyday kind of pain that she knew all too well.”&nbsp;&nbsp;The new 
marker relates McDaniel’s remarkable history: Her father, Henry 
McDaniel, was a former slave who fought in the Civil War. He moved his 
family to Manhattan, Kansas, and then to a portion of Wichita previously
 known as the “Black District.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/4/1617294721015.jpeg" alt=" Hattie McDaniel was born in Wichita. She became a talented singer, songwriter, playwright, dancer and radio show host. She was the first Black person to win an Academy Award. Credit BETTMANN/CORBIS/NPR" />
 <figcaption> Hattie McDaniel was born in Wichita. She became a talented singer, songwriter, playwright, dancer and radio show host. She was the first Black person to win an Academy Award. Credit BETTMANN/CORBIS/NPR</figcaption>
 </figure>Hattie McDaniel, the youngest of 13 children, moved with her family 
to Colorado when she was 5. She began her career in vaudeville and was a
 talented singer, songwriter, playwright, dancer, radio show host and 
comedienne.When “Gone with the Wind” was set to be released in 
1939, the producer scheduled a gala premiere in Atlanta, the hometown of
 author Margaret Mitchell. Because of Jim Crow laws in effect at the 
time, McDaniel and other Black actors were denied entrance to the 
premiere, and their photos were removed from a souvenir program.Denise
 Sherman, executive director of the Kansas African American Museum, 
choked up toward the end of the dedication ceremony as she reflected on 
McDaniel’s career and its impact on Black history.“I want to 
really share with you how blessed we are today,” Sherman said. “That we 
can come together and recognize an awesome African-American woman who 
endured so much but left a positive legacy for all of us.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/4/1617294759155.jpeg" alt="Credit Hugo Phan / KMUW" />
 <figcaption>Credit Hugo Phan / KMUW</figcaption>
 </figure>The historical marker is part of an initiative between The Kansas African American Museum, the city of Wichita and KMUW.Carla
 Eckels, KMUW’s director of cultural diversity, news and engagement, 
helped raise interest and funds for the historical marker after 
interviewing fellow Wichitan Karla Burns at the site in 2019. Burns, a 
Broadway performer who portrayed McDaniel in a musical called “Hi-Hat 
Hattie,” was distressed that the marker noting the actor’s birthplace 
had been removed.“You never know where a story will take you,” 
Eckels said Wednesday. “After the interview aired, there was an 
outpouring of calls and emails from KMUW listeners. . . And she now has a
 historic marker in her birthplace — Wichita, Kansas.“As you 
will read on her historic marker, she lived her life with dignity and 
grace, proudly and bravely serving as an inspiration and shining example
 to all who knew her and for the generations to follow.”You can view the new historical marker from a walking and biking path just east of Waco, between north 8th and 9th streets.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/4/1617294786628.png" alt="Credit Hugo Phan / KMUW" />
 <figcaption>Credit Hugo Phan / KMUW</figcaption>
 </figure>

New historical marker in Kansas showcases the life of Hattie McDaniel