Marian Anderson was an American opera singer. I have a great deal of admiration for her. She was a victim of bigotry and racial prejudice and yet maintained her dignity and overcame color barriers. She toured in Europe and that gave her the publicity she needed to be recognized as a great singer.Despite her growing popularity and talent, in 1939 the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused to allow her to perform at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. on the account of her race. Their refusal received negative publicity, and Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the DAR in protest. (Way to go Eleanor!) In response to the DAR’s refusal, Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes invited her to sing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. On April 9, 1939, Anderson sang in front of 75,000 people. Millions saw the live broadcast.
On January 7, 1955, Anderson broke down a color barrier. She became the first African American to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In her opera debut, she appeared in the production Un Ballo in Mascher. She received a standing ovation.
Anderson was the recipient of numerous awards. Eleanor Roosevelt presented her with the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal (1939), she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1963), President Carter awarded her the congressional gold medal (1977), and in 1991, she received a Grammy award for lifetime achievement.
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You can visit her official site and hear her voice here.
1 comment:
In HS, during our "Women in History" class, our teacher played Marian's clip and we all talked about how it made us feel.
I still remember that day all these years later.
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