Butterfly McQueen, in 1988. Ms. McQueen overcame her humble roots to star in movies and on Broadway. SPECIAL

Web posted February 23, 1999

By Fallon A. Hampton
A.R. Johnson Health Science and Engineering High School

Many important and influential people have passed through the great city of Augusta, Georgia. In my opinion, one of the most important is Butterfly McQueen.

Butterfly McQueen was born Thelma McQueen on January 8, 1911, in Tampa, Florida. She was the only child of a stevedore and a cleaning woman. She attended grammar school in Augusta, Georgia and graduated from a Long Island, New York high school, where she was able to cultivate her interests in music and dance.

In a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, she danced in the ``Butterfly Ballet,'' thus acquiring her stage name. She made her Broadway debut in George Abbott's Brown Sugar. Butterfly McQueen achieved fame primarily as a film actress in the 1940's. She was noted for her role as the slave Prissy in Gone With the Wind.

People often said they recall feeling anger and shame for the seemingly dimwitted roles she often played.

THE STORIES The Augusta Chronicle celebrates 2000 by taking a look at the contributions local African-Americans have made to our community. •Laney Museum •Three Eras •Artists Highlighted  THE ESSAYS Seventy-five local students were invited to write essays for the Black History Student Essay Contest. •About the Contest •Butterfly McQueen •Amanda Dickson •Jessye Norman •Charles Larke •Springfield Baptist •Martin Luther King

To protest a line she was asked to read as a colored servant, McQueen walked out of the studio. When she declined similar movie assignments, casting agents boycotted her for more than a year. She quit movie acting in 1947 to avoid further typecasting.

During the next 20 or so years, McQueen returned to Augusta and took a course in nursing at the Georgia Medical College. She later enrolled as an undergraduate at a city college in 1975 at age 64. She earned a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Spanish and political science.

In later years, McQueen decided to devote her life to children. She ``adopted'' a public elementary school. She patrolled the playground, picked up litter, and looked after the children. Unfortunately, we lost one of our great African-American women and role models to tragic injuries suffered in a kerosene heater accident at her Augusta, Georgia home December 22, 1995.