2011 Oscars

As I watched the 2011 Oscars, I couldn’t help but notice that there were no African American nominees for the most desired award in film. How can that be? Is it a coincidence?

According to this article, black actors and actresses have accounted for around 12 percent of nominations in the past ten years. That’s just over one in ten nominations is African American.

While it’s a possibility that the lack of African American Oscar nominations is a complete coincidence this year, the recent trends don’t seem likely to happen by random chance.

According to this article, black filmmakers are discouraged by the racial trends in Oscar nominations. Though steps have been made in the recent decade to help.

We all remember in 2002 when Halle Berry and Denzel Washington won Best Actor and Actress, the first time two African Americans won. Since then, Forrest Whitaker and Jamie Foxx have won Best Actor and Morgan Freeman, Jennifer Hudson and Mo’Nique have won for supporting roles.

The first black actor nominated for an Oscar was Hattie McDaniel in Gone With the Wind. Her role is considered a controversial role but she was rewarded with a nomination.

Since then, nominations have become more common, but still relatively scarce. Multiple African Americans are rarely nominated for the same award, and are outnumbered year after year.

A couple years ago, the nomination and victory for Slumdog Millionaire, similarly to Crash, might have suggested a spark of even more diversity among Oscar nominations as more minorities were nominated. But this year’s lack of diversity suggests an equally large step in the other direction.