Lena Horne
Singer and Sands headliner
A documented Sands performer whose story belongs within both showroom history and the history of Black Las Vegas.
A marquee in the archive
UNLV preserves a November 1961 image of the Sands marquee advertising Lena Horne. The catalog fixes the month without supplying an exact performance date. [1]
Place the image in context
UNLV’s Sands exhibit includes Horne in the property’s entertainment history. Its separate civil-rights interview explains the unequal city in which Black entertainers worked. [2] [3]
Key dates
- November 1961
A UNLV marquee photograph documents Horne at the Sands. [1]
People in the same story
Sammy Davis Jr.
Explore stage careers and the wider civil-rights story. [3]
Read the profileIn the archive
8 matching entries in the saved collection.
Photograph of Lena Horne performing in the Copa Room at the Sands Hotel, Las Vegas, circa 1950s
Photograph from Sands Hotel Photograph Collection. Catalog date: Circa 1950–1959.
Lena Horne, Jack Entratter, and others: photograph
Photograph from Sands Hotel Public Relations Records. Catalog date: November 1960.
Film transparency of Lena Horne, Sands Hotel, Las Vegas, circa early 1960s
Photograph from Sands Hotel Photograph Collection. Catalog date: Circa 1960–1964.
Slide of Lena Horne, Sands Hotel, Las Vegas, circa early 1960s
Photograph from Sands Hotel Photograph Collection. Catalog date: Circa 1960–1964.
Photograph of Lena Horne performing at the Sands Hotel, Las Vegas, circa early 1960s
Photograph from Sands Hotel Photograph Collection. Catalog date: Circa 1960–1965.
Photographs of Lena Horne with Jack Entratter, November 1960
Photograph from Sands Hotel Public Relations Records. Catalog date: November 1, 1960.
Go deeper into the record.
Sources for this profile and starting points for further research. Access notes mark links we could not open directly during the October 3–4, 2026 checks. Historical accounts describe their own period; they do not necessarily describe current operations.
- 1
Transparencies of the marquee at the Sands Hotel announcing performance by Lena Horne, November 1961
Dated photographic record. The catalog supplies a month, not an exact performance day.
- 2
Sands — Dreaming the Skyline
Public source reviewed October 4, 2026.
- 3
Integrating Las Vegas, and the Entertainers Who Helped It Happen
February 16, 2024 interview with historian Claytee White. Distinguishes entertainers’ influence from local civil-rights organizing.