You better put Cicely in there. She will definitely cut a bitch!

Tina Turner

Have they never heard of Josephine Baker or Lena Horne? Far more groundbreaking than the others!

And Oprah? Yeah, she was in Color Purple and Beloved, but does that make her a great sccreen diva?

Dandridge's career made Halle's EMMY possible.

Hattie McDaniel, the sister from Wichita :

The first black performer to win an Academy award:
Best Supporting Actress for Gone With the Wind (1939).
McDaniel was also a professional singer-songwriter, comedienne, stage actress, radio performer, and television star.
The first black woman to sing on the radio in America.

Karla Burns, also from Wichita, has done an excellent one-woman show based on her life: Hi-Hat-Hattie.

Karla Burns was the first black person to win the coveted Lawrence Olivier Award (the English Tony) for playing Queenie in Showboat.

Angela Bassett

Also Tina Turner deserves honorable mention for he screen-chewing energetic Acid Queen in Tommy.

Ethel Waters and Lena Horne in "Cabin in the Sky": Battle of the Black Divas!

De-glamorized Diahann Carroll in "Claudine"!

Vonetta McGee, Fabu Queen of Blaxploitation!

Fredi Washington in the first "Imitation of Life, exemplifying The Tragic Mulatto.

Juanita Moore in the second "Imitation of Life," a woman who could wring tears from a stone.

Ruby Dee in "A Raisin in the Sun" and Lord knows how many other powerful portrayals.

Josephine Baker in her '30s French films, emblematic in one number as a bird in a gilded cage.

Diahann Caroll in "Paris Blues" and "Claudine". She famously appeared on Broadway in "No Strings." Unfortunately I am too young to have seen "No Strings" except for a clip where she sings "The Sweetest Sound." She also had the first successful network show, "Julia", with a non-sterotypical black lead. "Amos and Andy" wasn't really a black show. Nat King Cole was the first real black show but had no sponsors.

Let us not forget Pearl Bailey. I saw her dancing in black patent spike heels. My feet hurt just looking at those shoes.

'DIVA' according to my dictionary means literally "GODDESS' (fem. of divus) or in today's more popular usage to signify a 'PRIMA DONNA' therefore your use of Caryn Elaine Johnson / Whoopi Goldberg's munchkin mug as the lead-in photo for this post I find quite odd and perverse.

PLEASE EXPLAIN!!!

Well, I didn't choose that photo--the webmaster did--but I'll totally stand behind it, seeing as this was a blog post announcing a new book about the greatest black screen divas, and Whoopi is one of the five stars they chose to include in it! (Plus I happen to have loved her in Color Purple, Ghost, and Sister Act.)

I know that Diana Ross destroyed her movie career in "The Wiz," but she was justly Oscar-nominated for "Lady Sings the Blues," and had a good ol' wallow of a "woman's picture" in the popular but awful "Mahogany." (A sort of black "Back Street.")

My friend Benjy's favorite line from the latter film:

"When I said I wanted to go home, I didn't mean the villa!"

...then may Circe, sorceress daughter of the sun god Helios turn you, Musto and your webmaster, both into swines.

WORK! afrodeity.

misuse of the word diva except w singers.

No wonder Lena Horne is still so angry.

Lena Horne and Hattie McDaniel most definitely. They were important color breakers. Lena Horne wasn't about to play a maid and Hattie McDaniel was a true professional who rose through the crap to turn in the best performance in 'Gone With the Wind'. She was better than Vivien Leigh. Watch their scenes and see who really has control. She's brilliant.
I agree with the choice of Whoopi. She was fab in Color Purple. I forgot to add 'Color Purple' over 'Out of Africa' in the Oscar column.

Ruby Dee. Plus she looked pissed when she lost the Oscar two years ago.

I agree about comments that are a start on blog posts. I’ve even pulled a comment out and made it a post, because it deserved to be one