Dr. Hannah Thuraisingam Robbins

Ja minä autin kaikkia. Ja olin kommunisti, mutta en ollut. Hän oli luonut seurauksessa, ennen kuin jokainen nainen voisi valita. Hänet mentoitiin Billie Holiday ja Dinah Washingtonin kanssa. Hän mahtoi Washingtonissa, hän soitti Michael Jacksonin kanssa ja hän eläi Barack Obamain presidenttiin. Mielestäni se on huomattava elokuvapäivä. Mutta kuten sanoit, hän on myös syntynyt rikki ja toivottavasti on iloinen, mikä on yllättävää. Hänillä oli kaksi isoa, joita hän ei ole enää olemassa, joten luulen, että hän oli melko iloinen.

So Lena Horne relentlessly talked about the loneliness and isolation that she felt at MGM and that it made her seem like she didn't want to be in community with other black performers. She came to believe that she was chosen by movie executives so that they could capitalize on her perceived racial ambiguity. And that made her work and the profile of her success understandably contentious for a really long time. And yet the peaks of her career, and I would say her story more generally, were always in community with other black artists.

Meanwhile, she balanced pouring her fortune into grassroots movements. She got involved in national organizing, and she was essential in helping up-and-coming black performers make choices about their contracts, their working conditions, based on her experience. Lena Horne became a star because she was crowded by support, and whatever storm she was weathering. Unlike many others, she was willing to admit her mistakes and to grow intellectually in public.

Her story shows the appeal of having had a figurehead, but also the limitations of having one person embody such a diverse community of people. And Horne really tried to pay that investment back to others, but while making the most of the platform she was given. I would say her custodianship and her commercial impact paved the way for public acceptance of a lot of black artists, including the megastardom of Diana Ross, who took over from Horne as the world's most photographed black woman.

Her survival and endurance was remarkable, but it was also sometimes messy. She reminds us to embrace the complex stories behind the successes, and that however exceptional and isolated people tried to make her, she relentlessly returned to her people, her values, and to paying her luck forward. Amazing. Thank you so much. That's right. Any final thoughts? That's really incredible. What an amazing woman. I mean, I...

Or travel with us to 1920s New York to meet Celia Cooney, the bobbed-haired bandit, a celebrity armed robber with a plan.

Or travel with us to 1920s New York to meet Celia Cooney, the bobbed-haired bandit, a celebrity armed robber with a plan.

BBC Sounds. Music, radio, podcasts.

BBC Sounds. Music, radio, podcasts.