MARIAN ANDERSON

Singer, Pioneer

Marian Anderson was the first Black American to sing with the New York Metropolitan Opera at Carnegie Hall.. She is often remembered for the incident in 1939 when she was refused permision to sing in Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., by the Daughters of the American Revolution. This action caused First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to resign from that organization, and permission was given to her for an outdoor concert to be held at the Lincoln Memorial. This concert, given on Easter Sunday of 1939, attracted a crowd of 75,000 and struck a blow against racism.

Anderson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 27, 1897. Her early experience was gotten at her church, the Union Baptist Church in Philadelphia. Through the efforts of its members and other people in her community, money was raised to allow her to take voice lessons. She sang in many public concerts, and in 1925 she won a competition sponsored by the New York Philharmonic. Although this led to a contract with the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, there were few roles available to her in the United States of that time. She was happy to accept a grant from the National Association of Negro Musicians in 1926 to study in Europe, and it was there that Anderson made her reputation. With a rich contralto voice that covered more than three octaves in range, she gained a large following and great fame in this country as well as abroad.

At the end of a long American tour is when Anderson was booked to sing at Constitution Hall. The resulting Lincoln Memorial Concert (mentioned above) is remembered as a hallmark of the modern Civil Rights movement. She again made history on January 7, 1955, when she became the first Black singer to ever perform with the New York Metropolitan Opera. Anderson went on to sing at the inaugurations of Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy, and was appointed an ambassador to the United Nations in 1958 by President Eisenhower. She was awarded the Kennedy Center Honor for Lifetime Achievement in 1978. Anderson died in 1993.