Lena Horne, 1917-2010

[lexsooner]

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-0511-lena-horne-20100511,0,5686607.story

She was one tough and talented lady who weathered many a storm. R.I.P.

[StoopTroup]

Red Foxx is sad in his pants and Grady probably up and died if he wasn't all ready hanging with Red.

RIP Lena.

[lexsooner]

She had an incredible voice, and became a social activist after touring as a performer during WWII. She once saw German POWs seated near the front at a USO show, but African American soldiers were made to sit in the back. That outraged her to the point that she spent the rest of her life as a civil rights activist.

[Oldnslo]

I guess that's why
there's no sun up in the sky

[sooneron]

Crazy talented.

[lexsooner]

Yes she was, and she was one of several really ballsy black female entertainers who were not afraid to fight the racism of the day. At a restaurant a patron once made a racial slur and Horne responded by heaving a lamp at the offender. Of course that is the least of what she did for the cause of civil rights, for which she was an advocate for most of her years.

[A Sooner in Texas]

She was an amazing performer. I saw her at the OKC Civic Center in 1984, when she was 66. She had 1,000 times the talent of most performers a third of her age.

[Leroy Lizard]

I remember watching her on Sanford and Son. I didn't like her "sassy" attitude. To each his own.

[TUSooner]

I remember watching her on Sanford and Son. I didn't like her "sassy" attitude. To each his own.

I'm not a big fan of sassiness either, and Lena was kinda like the Original Diva. But I liked her singing OK.
It's also possible that I am related to her, very very distantly.

[Leroy Lizard]

On the Indian side or Black side?

[TUSooner]

On the Indian side or Black side?

The Scottish side actually. But John Horn is a pretty common name, so I doubt he's our common ancestor.

[lexsooner]

That's really cool, TU!