Lena Mary Calhoun Horne An Advocate For Civil Rights And...

In 1919 at the tender age of two, Lena Horne made her first public appearance on the cover of the Branch Bulletin, a publication of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. She was touted as the organization’s youngest member. Lena would go on to become a noted singer, dancer and sex symbol. Not content to revel in her fame, Lena became an advocate for civil rights and the abolishment of segregation. Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was born to a middle-class family in Brooklyn, New York. Members of the Horne family were active members of the NAACP and the Urban League; many had attained a college degree, which remained rare for African-Americans in the early 20th century. Lena’s mother, Edna, was an actress with a black theater troupe; despite her mother’s career as a performer, and Lena’s ambitions to take the stage herself, her family encouraged her to pursue a more conventional career path. Against the wishes of her family, Lena auditione d at the Cotton Club in Manhattan, she was sixteen. Lena was hired and began her show business career dancing in the chorus line at the Cotton Club, which booked black performers for a white only audience. While at the Cotton Club Lena sang with jazz composer Duke Ellington as well as Avon Long who had starred in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. Success at the Cotton Club encouraged Lena to try her talents on Broadway. After appearing in a Broadway musical revue, she joined a well-known swing band, the Charlie Barnet Orchestra.