Hattie McDaniel: Gone With the Wind in 1939
James Baskett: Song of the South in 1948
Rita Moreno: West Side Story in 1961
Sideny Poitier: Lilies of the Field in 1963
Louis Gossett: An Officer & a Gentleman in 1982
Denzel Washington: Glory in 1989
Whoopi Goldberg: Ghost in 1990
Cuba Gooding Jr: Jerry Maguire in 1996
Denzel Washington: :Training Day in 2001
Halle Berry: Monster's Ball in 2001
Only Black Actor to win 2 Competitive Oscars:
Denzel Washington: for Glory and Training Day
First Black Woman to Win Best Actress:
Halle Berry for Monster's Ball
Background Info on Sidney Poitier (The First Black Actor to win Best Actor): Reactions to Hattie MacDaniel's Oscar for Gone With the Wind
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The first Negro actor to reach stardom in Hollywood is Sidney Poitier. Sidney Poitier was born in 1911 and his career quickly blossomed as he became an actor. His efforts seemed to pay off because in 1963, Poitier accepted the Academy Award as Best Actor for his performance in Lilies of the Field. He stated that "it had been a long journey to this moment." Amazingly, all the parts that Sidney played were not unstereotyped. Unfortunately, Sideney died of cancer in 1991.
"This was the first time that a Negro had ever received such an award from the Academy Award of Motion Picture Arts ans Sciences, but the fact that she was given an "Oscar" for her work as a stereotyped "Mammy" in this highly controversial film caused a great deal of further dissension. Indeed many Negroes felt that Miss McDaniel should have refused to take the award as a protest against her part." 
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