Lena Horne

BORN: JUNE 30, 1917, BROOKLYN, NY

DIED: MAY 9, 2010, NEW YORK, NY

I don’t have to be a symbol to anybody, I don’t have to be a first to anybody…. I’m me, and I’m like nobody else.

From the time she was two years old, Lena Horne made headlines. In 1919, she appeared on the cover of a print advertisement for the NAACP’s Crisis Magazine, as part of the organization’s appeal to increase membership and support for their social justice programs. Fourteen years later, she debuted as a chorus girl dancer at the Cotton Club in Harlem, in New York City. She became a successful nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she broke new ground when she signed a seven-year contract with MGM, a major motion picture studio. Lena had a glamorous yet controversial career. She challenged racial barriers in an industry that capitalized on her talents while denying her many opportunities.

In Hollywood, Lena courageously refused to act in roles that were demeaning to Blacks. But many of her scenes were edited out of the films when shown to segregated white audiences. Lena became famous for her starring roles in the 1943 films Cabin in the Sky and Stormy Weather, but she was blacklisted in Hollywood in the 1950s because of her political activities and the fear of Communism. Nevertheless, Lena earned admittance into Hollywood’s prestigious Screen Actors Guild, becoming one of the first Black women to do so.

Disillusioned with Hollywood, Lena returned to New York and established a triumphant career as one of the premier nightclub performers of the post-war era. In 1958, she was nominated for a Tony Award and she became a bestselling recording artist. Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music had a spectacular 333-performace run on Broadway. In 1989, she received the Grammy’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

During her seventy-year career in entertainment, Lena was always involved in civil rights causes. From anti-lynching campaigns supported by Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1930s and 1940s to voter registration drives in the 1960s and 1970s, she spoke on behalf of the NAACP, SNCC, CORE, and the National Council of Negro Women. She participated with Harry Belafonte and other entertainers in the 1963 March on Washington and at rallies to support murdered civil rights worker Medgar Evers. Among her most cherished awards was the 1983 Spingarn Medal given by the NAACP, the organization that first promoted her career in 1919.