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Lena Horne stamp to be unveiled in program at Madame Walker center

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The image of actress and civil rights activist Lena Horne will grace a new postage stamp to be officially unveiled in Indianapolis this week, the U.S. Postal Service said.

The stamp was designed to celebrate her life as part of the Black Heritage Stamp Series, the postal service said in a news release.

The public event will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday at the Madame Walker Theatre Center, 617 Indiana Ave.  Several local officials and authorities were scheduled to attend. Choirs from Broad Ripple High School, Building Blocks Academy and Lawrence North High School are scheduled to perform.

Horne, who died in 2010 at age 92, began her career at Harlem’s Cotton Club. In 1942, she signed a contract with MGM – one of the first long-term contracts with a major Hollywood studio for a black actress – with the stipulation that she would never be asked to take stereotypical roles then available to black actors. Two of her most famous movie roles were in “Cabin in the Sky” and “Stormy Weather,” both released in 1943.

During her career, Horne received a special Tony Award for her one-woman Broadway show, “Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music.” She also won three Grammy Awards, the NAACP Spingarn Medal and the Actors Equity Paul Robeson Award. She was a Kennedy Center Honors recipient in 1984, and her name is among those on the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site.

Customers may purchase the Lena Horne Forever stamp at The Postal Store at usps.com/shop, by calling 800-782-6724 and at Post Office facilities nationwide.