IM: WHUSDJ
CURRENT SHOW
Buisness as Usual
Tune into "Dark Side of the Highway" this Sunday (May 16) from 3-6 AM EST for a special memorial tribute to legendary jazz singer, actress, dancer and civil rights activist Lena Horne.
Lena Horne was born of mixed race heritage in Brooklyn, NY on June 30, 1917. At age 16 she joined the chorus line of Harlem's famed Cotton Club and later became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood. She had minor roles in numerous movies and more substantial roles in several films such as "Stormy Weather" and "Cabin in the Sky" (both in 1943). Because of her race, many of her film performances were stand-alone musical numbers that no had bearing on the plotline of the film. Film studios wanted to have the ability to quickly edit her out of any film before it was shown in the South, where films featuring black actors were usually banned. Her left-leaning political views and refusal to sing for segregated audiences on USO tours during World War II eventually led to her being blacklisted during the Red Scare of the 1950's. Unable to find work in Hollywood, she returned to performing in nightclubs and became active in the civil rights movement. Horne participated in the August 1963 march on Washington that culminated with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech. She would later appear on Broadway and television while continuing to record a series of critically acclaimed albums well into the 1990's. Over the years, her awards included four Grammys, an Emmy, a Tony, the Kennedy Center Honors, an honorary doctorate from Howard University, and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (one for recording, the other for motion pictures). Lena Horne died at the age of 92 on May 9, 2010 at New York Presbyterian Hospital. Her cause of death has yet to be made public.