Cora Calhoun Horne

(1865–1932) In her autobiography, singer-actress Lena Horne remarked that "the part of me that responds to causes or to injustices, or issues fighting comments on all kinds of issues, that part of me is the creation of my proud, activist grandmother, who never seemed to be afraid of anything".

Horne's grandmother, Cora, was a community leader and suffragist in Brooklyn in the first decades of the 20th century. She was a leader in the Urban League, the YWCA, and the NAACP, and a vocal advocate of women's suffrage in the heated years of the New York state campaign.

During World War I, Cora led a Red Cross unit making and repairing bandages, in connection with the Brooklyn YWCA. A detailed essay about Cora's life reports that, "in recognition of her contributions, Cora was appointed to the mayors Victory Committee."

Cora continued actively participating in the National Association of Colored Women and the NAACP and by 1918 was also involved with the Brooklyn League on Urban Conditions and the Big Brother and Big Sister Federation, organizations in which she would hold many leadership positions and with which she would continue working until the end of her life. Among these, Cora served as editor-in-chief of the Empire State Voice, the newsletter of the New York Federation of Colored Women's Clubs.