Lena Horne signs with MGM — first Black actress under major studio contract

In 1942 Lena Horne signed a long-term contract with MGM, becoming the first Black artist to sign such an agreement with a major Hollywood studio. She insisted on a clause preventing her from being cast as a maid. Though MGM primarily used her in stand-alone musical numbers that could be cut for Southern release, the contract represented a structural break in Hollywood's racial hierarchy.