Dorothy Dandridge was an actress, singer and dancer, born on November 9, 1922, in
Cleveland, Ohio. Notable for her work in the 1945 film musical “Carmen Jones,” she became the
first African American to be nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award. Dandridge
continued to break barriers as the first Black woman featured on Life magazine’s cover, and the
first Black performer to headline the Waldorf-Astoria’s prestigious Empire Room in 1955.
