Remembering Lena Horne’s Contributions to Race Relations: "
Reading about the life of Lena Horne, who died Sunday at age 92, I was struck by the indignities she faced as an entertainer of color and how she consistently stood up to racism throughout her career.
The singer-actress has the distinction of being the first black woman to sign a contract with a major studio, MGM. Content with her singing career, Horne wasn't keen on breaking into film, as she didn't like the way blacks were portrayed on screen in the 1940s--as domestics, mammies, jungle natives, etc. Her contract stipulated that she would never play a maid, the Washington Post reported. With then NAACP Executive Secretary Walter White at her side, Horne worked to counteract the entertainment industry's tendency to cast blacks in stereotypical roles. Read more... (Via About Race Relations.)
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