On Friday at The Town Hall in New York City, songwriter/singer, GRAMMY Award-winning Solange Knowles, accepted the first-ever inaugural Lena Horne Prize. The prize is for “artists creating social impact”. During her speech, Solange paid tribute to the legacy of Lena Horne.
Horne was a civil rights activist, actress, singer, and an American icon. Knowles opened up on how Horne’s role in The Wiz contributed to her imagination when she was a little girl. She was five years old when she first saw someone on the television screen that looked exactly like her.
“I was about five years old when I first saw The Wiz and it became the center of my universe. Never had I seen men and women who looked, sounded, moved and existed the way the characters in my imagination, in my little five-year-old world did.”
Friday also marked the one year anniversary of Solange When I Get Home album. This album is the fourth studio album done by Solange. It is also the follow-up to her 2016 album A Seat at the Table.
“This album marked a colossal pivot moment in my life that I’m still in the thick of the lessons today.”
Knowles added that her “life changed drastically” and “so suddenly there came a great, great fear,” she continued.
“Fear of the unknown, fear of trust, fear of love, fear of silence, fear of having to confront things and pain that I have buried too deep, deep inside. It was easy for me to show up and be the unstoppable woman for everyone else, but terrifying for me to be that woman for myself.”
The night was filled with so much empowerment, truth, and culture.
