LENA HORNE The voice of change
It was the early 1940s and Lena Horne was breaking new ground for black performers by signing a long-term contract with major Hollywood studio MGM. However, in the midst of an era where much of America operated under some form of segregation, Lena’s trajectory to Hollywood star wasn’t without its struggles.
Born in 1917 in Brooklyn, New York, Lena was the daughter of professional gambler Edwin and actress Edna. Her parents separated when she was young and she spent her early years living with her grandmother Cora Calhoun Horne, one of the first black suffragettes and an early campaigner for the rights of African-Americans. At 16, Lena’s mother landed her a job in the chorus at Harlem’s interview, “I literally ran away and married the first man I met.”
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