She picked up the prize for her work in the drama "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire."
"I would like to thank the Academy (of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) for showing that it can be about the performance and not the politics," Mo'Nique said as she accepted her award. "I would like to thank Ms. Hattie McDaniel for enduring all that she had to, so I would not have to. (Executive producers) Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey, because you touched it, the whole world saw ('Precious...') My entire BET family, my 'Precious' family, thank you so much. ... God bless us, all."
McDaniel was the first African-American artist to win an Oscar. She earned the best supporting actress title for her work in the 1939 film "Gone with the Wind."
Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI).