Reviews

McDaniel is remembered as the first black to win an Academy Award, but her lengthy career also included work in theater, radio, and television. Jackson has done extensive research on her career, but goes beyond straight biography when he uses her story to illustrate the struggles of black entertainers and the pressure they must have felt at being caught between the need to work and the increasing demands of black activists that they reject available but stereotyped roles. Although the bare facts of McDaniel's life and career make a relatively slim book, the occasional broader perspective provides some interesting insights.-- Barbara E. Kemp, Washington State Univ. Libs., Pullman