Harry Hay, Billie Holiday, Violette Leduc, Gabriela Mistral
Born: Harry Hay (1912), Billie Holiday (1915), Violette Leduc (1907), Gabriela Mistral (1889)
Born on this day
07AprBorn 1912114th birthday
Harry Hay
An organiser who helped give American gay men a collective political identity.
07AprBorn 1915111th birthdayBillie Holiday
Her phrasing transformed popular songs, while “Strange Fruit” made the violence of lynching impossible to ignore.
07AprBorn 1907119th birthdayViolette Leduc
Her frank account of love between two schoolgirls was censored in the 1950s – and her memoir “La Bâtarde” became a bestseller.
07AprBorn 1889137th birthdayGabriela Mistral
A Chilean poet, teacher and diplomat whose intimate life was long hidden behind her public reputation.