#OnThisDay in 1917, actress and singer Lena Horne was born in Brooklyn, New York. Horne started her career at the famed Harlem Cotton Club and went on to become a noted entertainer with a career lasting over 70 years. She has appeared in film, on television, and performed more than 300 times on Broadway. Horne was also a Civil Rights activist who refused to perform in front of segregated audiences and attended the March On Washington, 1963. In 1989, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from

Lena Horne was a groundbreaking singer, actress, and civil rights activist who starred in the musical Stormy Weather and became the first Black woman to sign a long-term contract with a major Hollywood studio. Despite this achievement, racism severely shaped her career. She was often filmed in separate scenes so that theaters in the segregated South could easily cut her out, and she was strictly forbidden from having romantic scenes with white actors. “I was a butterfly pinned to a column,” she

Bill Robinson and Lena Horne dazzle with their performance of 'I Can't Give You Anything but Love' from STORMY WEATHER ('43). National Tap Dance Day is celebrated on May 25 every year in Robinson's honor. | Turner Classic Movies: TCM