I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 839 
To posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal to Lena Horne in rec-
ognition of her achievements and contributions to American culture and 
the civil rights movement. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 10, 2015 
Mr. HASTINGS (for himself, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. TSONGAS, Mr. 
YARMUTH, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. MURPHY of Florida, Mr. CONYERS, Ms. 
JACKSON LEE, Mr. COHEN, Mr. TAKANO, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Ms. 
HAHN, Ms. TITUS, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Ms. 
EDWARDS, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. RANGEL, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Mr. CHABOT, 
Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. FUDGE, and Mr. MEEKS) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Fi-
nancial Services 
A BILL 
To posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal to Lena 
Horne in recognition of her achievements and contribu-
tions to American culture and the civil rights movement. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Lena Horne Recogni-
tion Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was born on 
June 30, 1917, in Brooklyn, New York. At the age 
of 16, Lena Horne was hired as a dancer in the cho-
rus of Harlem’s famous Cotton Club, where she was 
introduced to such legendary jazz performers as 
Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Count Basie, Ethel 
Waters, and Billie Holiday. 
(2) In 1940, she became one of the first Afri-
can-American women to perform with an all-White 
band when she toured with Charlie Barnet’s jazz 
band as its featured singer. 
(3) She was discovered by a Metro-Goldwyn- 
Mayer (MGM) talent scout and became the first Af-
rican-American artist to sign a long-term contract 
with a major film studio. 
(4) Despite her extraordinary beauty and tal-
ent, Lena Horne was often limited to minor acting 
roles because of her race. 
(5) Scenes in which she did sing were cut out 
when they were sent to local distributors in the 
South and studio executives cast another actress as 
Julie in the film version of ‘‘Show Boat’’ instead of 
Lena Horne because they did not want the show to 
star an African-American actress. 
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(6) However, Lena Horne dazzled audiences 
and critics in a number of films, including ‘‘Cabin 
in the Sky’’ and ‘‘Stormy Weather’’ before ulti-
mately turning back to a more lucrative, inclusive 
career in show business, performing across the na-
tion in nightclubs and on broadway. 
(7) A strong supporter of American troops, dur-
ing World War II, Lena Horne toured extensively 
with the United Service Organizations (USO) on the 
West Coast and in the South. She expressed outrage 
about the way African-American soldiers were treat-
ed, firmly opposing segregation and discrimination. 
She was appalled to find that the military was im-
plementing such strong measures of separation 
based on race, and actively protested performing 
when she saw that German Prisoners of War 
(POWs) were seated ahead of Black servicemen. 
(8) In general, Lena refused to sing for seg-
regated audiences and made it a point to speak out 
on the issue when performing before her large 
crowds of mixed races. 
(9) During the period of McCarthyism in the 
1950s, Lena Horne was blacklisted as a communist 
for 7 years because of her civil rights activism and 
friendship with Paul Robeson and W.E.B. Du Bois. 
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(10) In 1957, Lena Horne recorded Lena 
Horne at the Waldorf-Astoria, which reached the 
U.S. Billboard Top 10 and became the best-selling 
album by a female singer, regardless of race, in RCA 
Victor’s history. 
(11) Lena Horne rose to international stardom 
and toured the world, sharing the stage with such 
names as Count Basie, Tony Bennett, Billy 
Eckstine, Vic Damone, and Harry Belafonte, and 
also starred in musical and television specials with 
such giants as Judy Garland, Bing Crosby, and 
Frank Sinatra. 
(12) Throughout her life, Lena Horne used her 
fame to become a powerful voice for civil rights and 
equality. 
(13) In 1963, she participated in the historic 
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, at 
which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his im-
mortal ‘‘I Have a Dream’’ speech. Lena had gained 
renown respect for her courage in maintaining a 
firm stake in the Civil Rights movement, and met 
President John F. Kennedy days before his death 
later that year. 
(14) Lena Horne also performed at rallies 
throughout the country for the National Council for 
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Negro Women and worked with the National Asso-
ciation for the Advancement of Colored People 
(NAACP), of which she was a member from the age 
of 2, as well as the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. 
and National Urban League. 
(15) She would go on to play herself on such 
staple American shows as The Muppet Show, Ses-
ame Street, and Sanford and Son. 
(16) Through the end of the 20th century, 
Lena Horne continued to entertain large audiences 
of all ages, races, ethnicities and backgrounds. In 
1981, she captivated audiences with her one-woman 
Broadway show,‘‘Lena Horne: The Lady and Her 
Music’’, which enjoyed a 14-month run before going 
on tour, and earned her a special Tony Award and 
two Grammy Awards. In the 1950s, Lena actually 
became the first woman to have been nominated for 
a Tony Award. 
(17) In 2002, 73 years after the Academy 
Awards were first awarded, Halle Berry became the 
first African-American woman to win an Oscar for 
Best Actress and recognized in her acceptance 
speech how Lena Horne paved the way for her and 
other African-American actresses. 
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