The Queen of Sugar Hill: A Novel of Hattie McDaniel

by ReShonda Tate

A grudging, mean little message meant just for me: Don’t be too full of yourself. Never ever take up too much space.

he’d had to pull strings to get me into the Ambassador since the hotel had a no-coloreds policy. My win made his fight worthwhile.

Negro actors had been invited into the Hollywood room—as servants and slaves, but as my friend Langston Hughes always said, we were never given a seat at the table. Tonight, I was claiming my seat.

This was validation of my more than thirty years of blood, sweat, and entertaining—the triumph that made my tragedies worthwhile.