My Black History Month Journey of Celebrating Women in the Arts: Lena Horne

• Horne was long involved with the Civil Rights movement. In 1941, she sang at Cafe Society and worked with Paul Robeson. During World War II, when entertaining the troops for the USO, she refused to perform "for segregated audiences or for groups in which German POWs were seated in front of African American servicemen",according to her Kennedy Center biography.
• "What people tend not to fully comprehend today is what Lena Horne did to transform the image of the African American woman in Hollywood," said Donald Bogle, a film historian.
• A favorite Lena quote - It`s not the load that breaks you down, it`s the way you carry it.