Hollywood is in full awards season mode . This past weekend , the Producer 's Guild granted its first tie for its best picture award , bestowing the honor on `` Gravity '' and `` 12 Years a Slave . '' This weekend , the Director 's Guild will hand out its awards , for which `` 12 Years a Slave '' director Steve McQueen is a strong favorite . If McQueen takes home the Oscar at next month 's Academy Awards , he will be the first black director to receive that honor — ever . Which is a pathetic reflection of the far deeper and more enduring inequalities in American society today . It was n't until 1991 , the 64th presentation of the Academy Awards , that a black director was even nominated : John Singleton for `` Boyz in the Hood . '' Only one black director has been nominated since : Lee Daniels in 2009 for `` Precious . '' Meanwhile , excluding Steve McQueen this year , only four black men have been nominated as producers for best picture : Quincy Jones for `` The Color Purple '' in 1985 , Lee Daniels for `` Precious , '' Broderick Johnson for `` The Blind Side '' in 2009 , and Reginald Hudlin for `` Django Unchained '' in 2012 . That 's it . None won . And no black women have ever been nominated as either directors or producers . The record is n't much better for white women , incidentally . Before Kathryn Bigelow , who became the first woman to win the Oscar for best director -- in 2010 for `` The Hurt Locker '' -- only three women had ever been nominated : Lina Wertmüller for `` Seven Beauties '' in 1976 , Jane Campion for `` The Piano '' in 1993 and Sofia Coppola for `` Lost In Translation '' in 2003 . And the bigger box office films , including many nominated for Academy Awards , tend not to include female producers . One might be forgiven for thinking the 86th annual Academy Awards are taking place in 1886 . As far as we 've supposedly come as a society — a black president , more women in the workplace , the important legislative and cultural accomplishments of the civil rights movement and the women 's movement — that 's all ? Three black directors , four white female directors and a handful of executive producers between them ? Seriously ? These discouraging patterns in the Oscar nominations and awards are a reminder that social progress can be disturbingly superficial . Just like the world around us , our movie screens appear to be increasingly more diverse . Incredibly talented actors of color are at times portraying profound roles in plots that relate to the struggle for racial justice in America , usually through the lens of our past -- from `` Driving Miss Daisy '' to `` Django Unchained '' -- rather than an uncomfortable and critical look at our present . Yet Hollywood fails to regularly create , let alone celebrate , any near-significant number of critically and commercially successful films created by black directors and producers with as much power and pull in Hollywood as their white counterparts . When Chris Rock hosted the Oscars in 2005 , he took a camera crew to a movie theater in Harlem in New York and asked audience members if they 'd heard of that year 's Academy Award-nominated films . They had n't . Rock simply and powerfully illustrated the profound disconnect between black America and the Hollywood elite . Rock was not invited to host the Oscars again . These observations no doubt lead to chicken-vs.-egg debates . After all , plenty of financially successful films each year are produced and directed by black men and women -- though mostly men . So is it that these movies do n't make it into the critical pantheon of the Academy Awards ? Or black producers and directors do n't have the same opportunities to create films in the more elite genres ? Does the reason even matter or just the result ? By the same token , does Hollywood exclude women and people of color in powerful director and producer roles more than other facets of American business and society ? Probably not , but who cares ? That does n't make the critique any less worth leveling . In 1939 , Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American to win an Academy Award , for her role in `` Gone With The Wind . '' In 1968 , Sidney Poitier became one of the first African-American actors to achieve major box office success in a leading role , with a string of hits that year , including `` Guess Who 's Coming To Dinner . '' But both black actors , and most since , have been fictionally and literally in white men 's houses ; white men still very much disproportionately occupy the real seats of power in Hollywood and beyond . Kudos to Steve McQueen for challenging this tired script . I hope his truly excellent film wins both best picture and best director . But more important , here 's hoping the behind-the-scenes levers of power in Hollywood start reflecting more inclusive plot lines appropriate for 21st century America .
Henry Kohn : If Steve McQueen wins , he will be the first black director to get an Oscar . Kohn : No black women , only four other black women have been nominated for best director . Kohn : Only four white women nominated for director : As far as we ' ve come , this is pathetic . Kohn : Movies show racial struggles of the past but neglect to take a look at the present .