The United States Postal Service added to their perpetual one-priced collection of iconic Americans during a Black History Month 2018 celebration at Symphony Space by unveiling the 41st Black Heritage Forever Stamp which bears the image of Lena Horne, three-time Grammy-winning singer, Broadway performer, and Hollywood star.
In a ceremony attended by Horne’s daughter, Gail Lumet Bucklet, the USPS heralded the life and legacy of “a woman who used her platform as a renowned entertainer to become a prolific voice for civil rights advancement and gender equality,” Deputy Postmaster General Ronald Stroman said.
Horne began her career at the famed Cotton Club in Harlem and later moved to the West Coast where she signed a long-term Hollywood contract with MGM studios. She starred in numerous movies, including “Cabin In The Sky,” and “Stormy Weather.”
She made her Broadway debut in 1934 in “Dance With Your Gods,” and also appeared in “Jamaica” and “Tony & Lena Sings” alongside Tony Bennett.
She received a Special Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Leading Actress in a Musical for her 1981 solo show, “Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music.”
As an activist, Horne entertained at camps for Black military men during World War II and advocated for Japanese Americans against discriminatory housing after the war.
The Brooklyn-born talent worked with Eleanor Roosevelt to pass anti-lynching legislation, performed at civil rights rallies throughout the 1960s, and walked in the 1963 March on Washington.
She earned a Kennedy Center Honor in 1984, and her name marks the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site.
According to the USPS, now available for purchase at post offices throughout the nation are colorful $10 sheets of 20, $5 blocks of 10 and $2 blocks of four.
