Remembering Lena Horne

Origins
In 1933, at the age of 16, Horne auditioned for the chorus at the Cotton Club in Harlem, N.Y., the famous nightclub where all the customers were white, all the dancers were light-skinned blacks and the music was under the direction of Duke Ellington. Her talents were soon noticed, and she was cast as the star in the 1938 black musical The Duke Is Tops, above, a role for which she never got paid.

• A Great Lady Makes Her Exit: Lena Horne Dies at 92