and i think it's important for people to recognise the sacrifices and the hard work that she really, really demonstrated during this early period. hattie mcdaniel. applause. while mcdaniel may have broken barriers in collecting her award, she was forced to sit at the back of the ballroom during the ceremony, away from her cast mates because she was black. she gave a very dignified speech. i sincerely hope i shall always be a credit to my race and to the motion picture industry. the exhibition also features numerous works from over the decades, including props, posters and footage of race films, films that had a black cast and were made mostly between 1915 and the 1950s for african—american audiences. in many ways, it's a prehistory to what many people think is the start of black cinema in the early 1970s. there were these 'blax—ploitation' films — i don't know if you remember these — shaft... ..super fly... we wanted to demonstrate to people that there are 80 years of film—making that preceded that moment. did it surprise you, as you put the exhibition