As Scarlett O'Hara's slave Prissy in Gone with the Wind, Thelma "Butterfly" McQueen probably did more than any other entertainer to further the typecasting of African American actors and actresses in menial roles; as a life-long advocate for racial equality in Hollywood, she certainly did as much as anyone to put an end to such discrimination. One of the most widely recognized black actresses of her era, McQueen's 1947 decision to abandon cinema for a lifetime of menial labor helped pressure the film industry into abandoning its long-standing practice of relegating African Americans to menial roles. Yet throughout her six decade career, McQueen was plagued by her most celebrated on-screen line: Prissy's admission to Miss Scarlett that "I dunno nothin' 'bout birthing babies."

Born on January 11, 1911 in Tampa, Florida, to a stevedore and a domestic, Thelma McQueen intended to study nursing in New York City...