Though it is often remembered as the greatest event in the history of the Loew’s Grand Theatre, “Gone With the Wind’s” premiere was not an event to be enjoyed by all.  African Americans were sometimes allowed to attend the Loew’s Grand Theatre sitting in the balcony seats, they were completely banned from attending major events like movie premieres.

The “Gone With the Wind” premiere brought even more controversy to the Atlanta African American community, however, due to Reverend Martin Luther King Sr.’s approval that the Ebenezer Church choir participation in a performance that happened as part of the opening festivities. The event is described below, as excerpted from John Egerton’s book Speak Now Against the Day: The Generation Before the Civil Rights Movements in the South. 

…when the movie version of Gone With the Wind premiered in Atlanta, Reverend King [Sr.] had run into a hornet’s nest. He drew sharp criticism from many blacks for allowing the Ebenezer choir to put on aprons and Aunt Jemima bandannas and sing for an all-white audience that pointedly excluded, among others, the black actress Hattie McDaniel, who played the role of Mammy in the film.

(credit: American Theatre Architecture Archive, Theatre Historical Society of America)