Cora Catherine Calhoun Horne facts for kids

Cora Catherine Calhoun Horne (November 1865 – September 23, 1932) was a Black suffragist, civil rights activist, and an Atlanta socialite. She was an early member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and a founding member of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW). She was the grandmother of entertainer Lena Horne and raised Lena when she was young.

History

She was born as Cora Catherine Calhoun in November 1865 in Atlanta, Georgia, to parents Atlanta Mary (née Fernando) and Moses Calhoun. She was the oldest of two children, her younger sister was named Lena. Her father had been the house slave butler to Andrew Bonaparte Calhoun, of Georgia. Moses later opened a small grocery, followed by a restaurant, boardinghouse, and land ownership, which ushered the family into the Black middle class. She and her sister attended Storrs Elementary School in Atlanta and the family attended First Congregational Church, both of which were associated with American Missionary Association (AMA). Calhoun attended Atlanta University and studied education, graduating in 1881. Cora Calhoun was a socialite, active in Atlanta Society.

Calhoun and Edwin Horne (1859–1939) married on October 26, 1887, in Birmingham, Alabama. Together they had four children Errol Stanley (1889–1918), Edwin "Teddy" Fletcher (1893–1970), Frank Smith (1899–1974), and John Burke (1905–1971). After marriage, the couple moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee. In 1896, they became disillusioned with the South and the segregation and moved to the West 50s Streets in New York City, which was known as "Black Bohemia" at the time. Later the family settled down at 189 Chauncey Street in Brooklyn, New York.

In the 1890s, she was a founding member of the Horne National Association of Colored Women (NACW). The Hornes were early members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She was additionally active in many other organizations including the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA, starting in 1913), Brooklyn League on Urban Conditions (1918), the Big Brother and Big Sister Federation (1918), and the National Republican Women's Auxiliary (c.1924).

Cora Calhoun Horne was the paternal grandmother to Lena Horne, who, along with her spouse primarily raised Lena when she was a child in the 1920s. When her granddaughter was living with her, Horne took her to NAACP meetings starting at age 2 and immersed her in learning about civic causes.