"Fredi Says," April 26, 1947
Excerpt from Washington, Fredi, “Fredi Says,” People’s Voice, April 26, 1947
Hattie McDaniel who has managed to get herself involved time and again on the wrong side of the fence on the topic of Hollywood stereotypes, is once again sounding off on the subject. This time, through the medium of Hedda Hopper’s syndicated column which appears in New York’s Daily News. Hattie seems to be upset because several mass organizations from coast to coast, picketed Song of the South, Walt Disney’s tale of Uncle Remus in which she plays the role of a mammy. Hattie says in her letter to Hedda Hopper, “I don’t think I’ve disgraced my race by the roles I’ve played. I’m trying to fathom what an ‘Uncle Tom’ is. People who can afford to certainly have maids and butlers called ‘Uncle Tom? Truly, maids and butlers in real life are only trying to make an honest dollar, just as we who work in pictures. I only hope that producers will give us Negro actors and actresses more roles—even if there will be those who’ll call us ‘Uncle Toms.’ When they speak thus, I’m sure it’s only because of their frustrated minds.”
This letter I think shows clearly the tremendous educational job which needs to be done among ourselves. Miss McDaniel has missed completely the crux of the argument against stereotyping the Negro on screen. And too, I think it shows the lack of confidence she has in her ability as an actress. To suggest that many Negroes do not make their living as servants would be to belie the living facts. But also, to suggest by reason of omission that there are not Negroes in all phases of government, education, white-collar professions, the sciences and in the ordinary business of every day living is a down right concealment of the truth.
No one has any objection to Miss McDaniel playing the role of a mammy when necessary but we do object to the Civil War mammy in the modern setting. And furthermore, what makes this actress think that she must be forever relegated to the “ya-sa boss” type servant?
It should not be difficult for Miss McDaniel to point out to some of her many studio contacts, which no doubt consist of writers, directors and produces, that all Negro servants do not speak in dialect. Indeed, I know from personal contact that many Negro servants have a better command of the English language than some of the people they work for. Why not match this type servant for every stereotype used? At least it would give both sides of the servant class.
I don’t think there is one person who fights against stereotyping the Negro who blames the individual actor or actress for carrying out assignments handed them in pictures. These people are well aware of the fact that these artists are making a living in the only way they know how but certainly it is not expected that these artists will become so completely subjugated to the stereotype idea that they will defend it . . .
It would behoove all of us to ever keep in mind that in many sections of this world the only contact people have with the American Negro is what they get via the screen and radio and they take it literally. I wonder if Miss McDaniel wants the peoples of Africa, India and other isolated peoples to think of her only as she appears in Song of the South?
Since this is practically the only kind of role Hollywood hands Miss McDaniel, movie-goers who have no contact with Negroes have no other means of finding out that off the screen she and countless other Negro females live an entirely different kind of life.
Some producers have defended their position on casting Miss McDaniel by saying, you can’t make a Lena Horne out of her. My answer to that one is, who asked for such an impossible transition? Hattie McDaniel is an actress and what is wrong with her portraying some one of the caliber of Mary McLeod Bethune, an educator who attained high success the hard way? There are many Negro women all over this country who answer the physical description of Hattie McDaniels who could take some of the Hollywood big shots to school.
Wake up Hattie, no one is riding you for the mammy roles you must play, but I for one am riding you for your defense of the overall picture these roles create in the minds of the movie going public.
If you readers feel that Hollywood has a responsibility to the Negro population from whom they collect a terrific revenue, then you ought to join the Cultural Division of the National Negro Congress, 307 Lenox Av. This division is out not to put Hattie McDaniel and others like her out of the business of making pictures, but on the contrary it is out to get better roles for them depicting us as part of the day to day American scene.