June 30 is the birthday of American actress, singer and activist LENA HORNE (1917-2010).

Lena Horne’s career stretched across more than seven decades, taking her from the Cotton Club chorus line at sixteen to film, television, and the Broadway stage. She became a prominent nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she built a reputation as one of the era’s most visible Black stars. A committed advocate for civil rights, she took part in the March on Washington in 1963 and continued balancing nightclub work, television appearances, and well‑received recordings through the following decades. Though she announced her retirement in 1980, she returned almost immediately with her one‑woman show Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, a 300‑performance Broadway success that later toured nationally and earned wide acclaim. She continued to record and appear publicly into the 1990s before stepping away from the spotlight in 2000.

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