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WATCH: Toni Braxton on Horne's Legacy: "She Changed the Game"

As hundreds mourned and paid their final respects to Lena Horne, singer Toni Braxton reflects on the legacy of the iconic entertainer.

Says the "Make My Heart" singer: "I love Lena Horne. They wanted her to say she wasn't [black] and she said no. She was one of the first leading ladies who changed the game for so many of us. She was one of the first to say, 'If I'm going to do the show, I'm going through the front door. I'm not going through the kitchen or I won't do the show. ... I love her for that."

Watch AFTER THE JUMP ...

VIDEO, PHOTOS: Hundreds Bid Farewell to Icon Lena Horne

Hundreds of mourners paid their final respects to the late Lena Horne on Friday, gathering in a New York City church to celebrate the life of the legendary jazz singer, actress and civil rights icon. The iconic entertainer died Sunday at age 92.

More photos and video from the service WHEN YOU JUMP ...

The funeral mass was at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola on the city's Upper East Side. Ms. Horne, whose signature song was "Stormy Weather," was remembered as a shy girl from Brooklyn who fought racism for decades to emerge as a world-class singer and social activist.

The New York Times:

"In the pews were hundreds of mourners, among them Jessye Norman, Leontyne Price, Dionne Warwick, Lauren Bacall, Chita Rivera, Cicely Tyson (right), Vanessa Williams and Gov. David A. Paterson. Leslie Uggams said that Ms. Horne had been someone to look up to. “When my father reluctantly figured out that I was going to go in show business,” Ms. Uggams recalled outside the church, he said, 'I want you to be like Lena.'

The service began with a cello piece by Bach. Later, Audra McDonald performed an arrangement of 'This Little Light of Mine' and 'Amazing Grace,' and one of four speakers, Representative John Lewis of Georgia, said Ms. Horne had been 'a light, and she did shine. She did not give in. She did not give up. She did not give out.' Mr. Lewis said he had known Ms. Horne since the civil rights demonstrations of the 1960s."

Other trailblazers such as Chita Rivera, Diahann Carroll and Dionne Warwick were present. Their photos and video from the service WHEN YOU JUMP ...

In related news: On Friday, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced a resolution that passed unanimously, recognizing Ms. Horne's legacy as a Hollywood trailblazer and civil rights activist. President Obama's statement on Ms. Horne's passage can be read HERE. And at The Huffington Post: Irene Monroe remembers the icon as "more than skin deep".

Lena Horne: In Her Own Voice is scheduled to air on PBS  through May 23. The documentary also streams online.

Daughter Gail Lumet is above and the family gathers below. More photos and video WHEN YOU JUMP ...

 

WATCH: Reports on Horne's Civil Rights Legacy, Rare 1966 Interview

In the two days since the loss of the legendary Lena Horne, plenty has been written about her entertainment legacy. There is also a renewed focus on Horne's legacy to the Civil Rights movement, which President Obama acknowledged in his statement.

Eugene Robinson at The Washington Post describes Horne as a "glamorous revolutionary" and an "infiltrator."

"[Horne] was, by any standard, gorgeous. But she knew that the racial ambiguity of her looks allowed her to attain a level of stardom that was inaccessible to singers and actors who conformed more closely to white America's image of 'black.' ... Horne was always outspoken about civil rights. During World War II, she complained about how black soldiers -- who had made her a popular pinup, essentially the black Betty Grable -- were being treated in the segregated Army. Her refusal to perform for segregated audiences got her disinvited from USO tours. Horne blamed her activism and her associations for the waning of her movie career after her MGM contract expired in 1950; actor Paul Robeson and scholar W.E.B. Du Bois, both known for their left-leaning views, were among her good friends. There is no evidence that she was ever actually blacklisted, however. Tastes changed, and musicals became passe. By the time black actors began to get substantial dramatic roles in the movies, Horne was past leading-lady age."

Democracy Now has produced a fascinating report on Horne's civil rights legacy. It includes her participation in the 1963 March on Washington alongside Dr. Martin Luther King. Also detailed is Horne's meeting with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy alongside authors James Baldwin and Lorraine Hansberry—both of whom were gay.

The report heavily relies on a 1966 Horne interview with Pacifica Radio. Horne talks about being mentored: "Paul Robeson taught me to be proud because I was Negro. He sat me down for hours and told be about it.. I heard about it, saw it in some books, but they didn't teach it in school. They still don't teach in history books. He didn't talk to me about being a symbol of Negro pride singing in some club, he talked to me about my heritage. That's why I always loved him."

The interview is remarkable. Watch AFTER THE JUMP ...

READ: Statement by President Obama on Passing of Lena Horne

President Obama releases an eloquent statement on the loss of Lena Horne. The statement reads:

Statement by the President on the Passing of Lena Horne

Michelle and I were deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Lena Horne – one of our nation’s most cherished entertainers. Over the years, she warmed the hearts of countless Americans with her beautiful voice and dramatic performances on screen. From the time her grandmother signed her up for an NAACP membership as a child, she worked tirelessly to further the cause of justice and equality. In 1940, she became the first African American performer to tour with an all white band.  And while entertaining soldiers during World War II, she  refused to perform for segregated audiences – a principled struggle she continued well after the troops returned home.  Michelle and I offer our condolences to all those who knew and loved Lena , and we join all Americans in appreciating the joy she brought to our lives and the progress she forged for our country.

Two things come to mind when reading the President's statement. The first is the use of the word "passing", which is the more respectful term for death often used in the black community.

The second is the obvious: The nation's first black President mourns the passage of a woman who broke many color barriers. How far we have come as a nation from the time when Lena Horne became the first black movie star—and yet could not be seen in many movie theaters or even sleep in the hotels where she sang.

WATCH: Lena Horne on Hollywood Studio Racism to Johnny Carson

Lena Horne made a rare 1982 appearance on The Tonight Show in support of "The Lady and Her Music." It's a fascinating discussion. Lena talks with Johnny Carson about the old Hollywood studio system and the racism she experienced in the 1940s and 1950s.

Horne details her friendship with Ava Gardner—"We both liked to get together and have a few drinks"—who ultimately was chosen to replace her in Showboat  because Southern movie theaters would not carry a film staring Horne. That's in Part One. In Part Two, she discusses being booked to sing at hotels but not allowed to stay in them. "They hurt for many years. But I found the humor and it helped me do this play."

Watch the segment and an amazing rendition of "Stormy Weather" AFTER THE JUMP ...

Lena Horne Dies at 92

The legendary and iconic Lena Horne has died at age 92, reports the New York Times.

Horne was the first black performer to be signed to a long-term contract by a major Hollywood studio. But when Horne was signed by MGM in the 1940s, the singer and actress still suffered major discrimination.

"Ms. Horne was stuffed into one “all-star” musical after another to sing a song or two that could easily be snipped from the movie when it played in the South, where the idea of an African-American performer in anything but a subservient role in a movie with an otherwise all-white cast was unthinkable. 'The only time I ever said a word to another actor who was white was Kathryn Grayson in a little segment of ‘Show Boat'' included in “Till the Clouds Roll By” (1946), a movie about the life of Jerome Kern, Ms. Horne said in an interview in 1990. In that sequence she played Julie, a mulatto forced to flee the showboat because she has married a white man.

"But when MGM made “Show Boat” into a movie for the second time, in 1951, the role of Julie was given to a white actress, Ava Gardner, who did not do her own singing. (Ms. Horne was no longer under contract to MGM at the time, and according to James Gavin’s Horne biography, “Stormy Weather,” published last year, she was never seriously considered for the part.) And in 1947, when Ms. Horne herself married a white man — the prominent arranger, conductor and pianist Lennie Hayton, who was for many years both her musical director and MGM’s — the marriage took place in France and was kept secret for three years."

Horne's 1943 performance in Stormy Weather was triumphant and the title song became her signature. At the time she was described as "the nation’s top Negro entertainer". Horne earned an MGM salary of $1,000 a week, plus $1,500 for every radio appearance and $6,500 a week when she played clubs. Horne's popularity soared during WWII. " 'The whole thing that made me a star was the war,' Ms. Horne said in the 1990 interview. 'Of course the black guys couldn’t put Betty Grable’s picture in their footlockers. But they could put mine.'"

Of the many men in her life, Horne said only one was her "soulmate": Billy Strayhorn, the composer and arranger for Duke Ellington, who was openly gay during the 1930s, 40s and 1950s. "A rare feat for an African American man during that time", noted PBS in its recent documentary Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life.  Horne said:

'I wasn’t born a singer,' she told Strayhorn’s biographer, David Hajdu. 'I had to learn a lot. Billy rehearsed me. He stretched me vocally.” Strayhorn occasionally worked as her accompanist and, she said, 'taught me the basics of music, because I didn’t know anything.' Strayhorn was also, she said, 'the only man I ever loved,' but Strayhorn was openly gay, and their close friendship never became a romance. 'He was just everything that I wanted in a man,' she told Mr. Hajdu, 'except he wasn’t interested in me sexually.' "

The Philadelphia Inquirer adds: For decades after his death in 1967, she kept his photo by her bedside."

The singer with the big smile and expressive voice has always been a favorite among gay audiences. Horne's role as Glenda in The Wiz cemented her iconic status among gay men—especially among a generation of black gay men who used her song "If You Believe in Yourself" as an anthem. Horne was also re-introduced to a new generation with her Tony Award-winning, one-woman show "Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music."

Ironically, on May 17th, an off-Broadway tribute will open: "To Lena...A Tribute to the Lady & her Music." And in recent years, it's been reported that Alicia Keys would star in an upcoming biopic about the legendary entertainer.

Lena set the gold standard with 92 years of elegance, grace and class. Watch the legend sing "Stormy Weather", "If You Believe" and her fabulous GAP commercial  AFTER THE JUMP ...