Lena Horne

Lena Horne
Friedman-Abeles, New York, photographer / [Public domain]

My hero is Lena Horne from the movie "Stormy Weather". She was a really strong African American woman who just wanted to be successful in life. She helped Malcolm x and Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement. She could not do the things she wanted to do because of the color of her skin. Lena did not let that stop her, she continued to work hard at what she wanted in life.

I chose Lena Horne as my hero because she was the first African American woman to chase after her dreams and make them come true. She was a great singer and performer. She started her career as a dancer at the famous  Cotton Club in Harlem. Lena Horne appeared on Broadway in the musical "Leslie's Blackbirds of 1939".  Lena was the only child in her family. Her dad played in a band m and her mother was a homemaker. Times were tough and Lena left home at the age of 16 to help her family. This was the beginning of her career. Lena was a hard worker and this paid off and she became very successful.  Soon she married and had two children, a son and daughter. She divorced but this was a minor set back, she still worked hard and her career continued to develop. She moved to Hollywood and signed a 7 year contract with MGM Studios; she was the highest paid black actor at the time.

Lena appeared on the cover of Motion Picture Magazine. She was the first black to appear on the cover. This made Lena more popular and soon she was acting in more movies and productions. In 1999 Lena made her last major public appearance at the all-star salute in her honor at New York's Avery Fisher Hall. At 90 she has retired from show business, but soon after her retirement a tragedy happened. Lena Horne died the day before Mother's Day of May 9, 2010 at the age of 92 at the New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.