Lena Horne left school at 16 to help support her family. She became a dancer at Harlem’s Cotton Club was soon a sought-after performer – a role she would maintain throughout her life. A long run at the Savoy-Plaza boosted Horne’s career even further. She was featured in Life magazine, and listed as the highest-paid Black entertainer of the day.

MGM signed Horne to a seven-year contract, but not before she demanded (with some assistance from her father and the NAACP) that she not play industry-standard roles, like domestic workers, that stereotyped African-American women. This was a controversial stance, but her convictions paid off. She appeared in legendary films like Cabin In The Sky and Stormy Weather.

By the end of the 1940s, Horne had sued a number of restaurants and theaters for discrimination. She became an outspoken member of the leftist group, Progressive Citizens of America. McCarthyism swept Hollywood, and Horne found herself, and friend Paul Robeson, blacklisted. It didn’t stop her career, though. She found work in posh nightclubs and on TV, and sang extensively in Europe. The ban eased by the mid-1950s, and Horne was as popular as ever. Her albums, “Feelin’ Good” and “Lena In Hollywood,” were hits.

Horne continued to use her fame on behalf of the NAACP, the National Council for Negro Women, and the Civil Rights Movement. She was a vocal participant at the 1963 March on Washington, and she lifted her voice for the voiceless until her death in 2010.

This episode of “Soundtrack to the Struggle” was written by Hollis Monroe. Produced by Ron Adkins. Executive Producers Dennis Green and George Dorman. Hosted by Hollis Monroe. 

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It’s 1967, and singer and actress Nichelle Nichols attends a fund-raiser for the NAACP. A man approaches and says, “Ms. Nichols, I’m your greatest fan.” That fan was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. During their chat, Nichols confides her plans to leave her current TV gig for a career on Broadway. King was mortified. “You can’t leave Star Trek,” he said. “You’re a part of history. You aren’t cast as a servant. You play a Black woman in authority. You’re a role model for women and Negroes everywhere.” Nichols took Dr. King’s words to heart, and stayed with the show. She made TV history again when, as part of an episode, she took part in television’s first inter-racial kiss.

Before Star Trek, Nichols made her name in jazz. She sang with Duke Ellington’s and Lionel Hampton’s big bands. She was a lead in Oscar Brown’s musical, “Kids and Company.” She sang in clubs all over Chicago and New York, and starred in productions of Carmen Jones and Porgy & Bess.

After Star Trek, she worked tirelessly to recruit women and minorities for NASA. Her efforts inspired dozens to become astronauts, including Dr. Sally Ride – the first American woman in space, and Colonel Guion Bluford – the first African-American astronaut. She continued to sing, recording two albums. And yes, she made it to Broadway – starring in a one-woman musical review.

This episode of “Soundtrack to the Struggle” was written and produced by Ron Adkins. Executive Producers Dennis Green and George Dorman. Hosted by Hollis Monroe.

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It’s Prohibition-era Harlem, and Gladys Bentley is at the piano at Harry Hansberry’s Clam House, one of the biggest gay speakeasies in New York. Dressed in her signature tuxedo and top hat, she sings bawdy lyrics to popular songs. Her voice is deep and growling, and she flirts with the women in the audience.

Even as a child, Gladys Bentley raised eyebrows. She was the only girl in a family of boys and preferred her brothers’ suits to dresses. Ostracized, she left home for New York at age 16, where she soon headlined at Harlem’s Ubangi Club, the Apollo, and the Cotton Club, backed by a chorus line of drag queens. Wrote Langston Hughes of her performance, “Miss Bentley was an amazing exhibition of musical energy – a large, dark, masculine lady … a perfect piece of African sculpture, animated by her own rhythm.”

The repeal of Prohibition meant the demise of the Harlem speakeasies. Moving to Los Angeles, she was dubbed “The Brown Bomber of Sophisticated Songs,” and “America’s Greatest Sepia Piano Player.” She counted Cary Grant, Cesar Romero, and Barbara Stanwyck as loyal fans, but her popularity, and the culture’s tolerance for her lifestyle, waned.  Still, as author James Wilson wrote, Bentley’s legacy endures.

This prominent figure of the Harlem Renaissance “troubled the distinctions between black and white and masculine and feminine,” and remains an inspiration for African Americans and the LGBT community.

This episode of “Soundtrack to the Struggle” was co-written by Ron Adkins and Hollis Monroe.  Hosted by Hollis Monroe.

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