Cora Catherine Calhoun Horne (November 1865 – September 23, 1932) was an American suffragist, civil rights activist, and an Atlanta

socialite A socialite is a person, typically a woman from a wealthy or aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having ...

. She was an African-American woman. She was an early member of the

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

(NAACP) and a founding member of the

National Association of Colored Women The National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC) is an American organization that was formed in July 1896 at the First Annual Convention of the National Federation of Afro-American Women in Washington, D.C., United States, by a merger of ...

(NACW). She was the grandmother of entertainer

Lena Horne Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American singer, actress, dancer and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years and covered film, television and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of the C ...

and raised Horne when she was young.

History

Horne was born in November 1865 in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, 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 A house slave was a slave who worked, and often lived, in the house of the slave-owner, performing domestic labor. House slaves performed essentially the same duties as all domestic workers throughout history, such as cooking, cleaning, serving m ...

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. She was baptized as a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, but the family later attended First Congregational Church, which like her school was associated with the

American Missionary Association The American Missionary Association (AMA) was a Protestant-based abolitionist group founded on in Albany, New York. The main purpose of the organization was abolition of slavery, education of African Americans, promotion of racial equality, and ...

(AMA). She was later confirmed at St. Benedict the Moor Church. Calhoun attended

Atlanta University Clark Atlanta University (CAU or Clark Atlanta) is a private, Methodist, historically black research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded on September19, 1865, as Atlanta University, it was the first HBCU in the Southe ...

and studied education, graduating in 1881. Horne was a socialite, active in Atlanta Society. She and Edwin Horne (1859–1939) married on October 26, 1887, in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

. 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 Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is 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 Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. In the 1890s, she was a founding member of the Horne

(NACW). The Hornes were early members of the

(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). Horne was the paternal grandmother to

, 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.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Horne, Cora Catherine Calhoun 1865 births 1932 deaths Activists from Atlanta Activists from Brooklyn NAACP activists Atlanta University alumni American socialites African-American suffragists American suffragists YWCA leaders 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women