Born:
February 27, 1897
Birthplace:
Philadelphia, PA
Died:
April 8, 1993
Place of Death: Portland, OR
Zodiac Sign:
Pisces
Marian Anderson was an American singer of
classical music and spirituals.
She performed in concerts and recitals in
major music venues and with famous orchestras throughout the United States and
Europe between 1925 and 1965.
Although offered roles with many important
European opera companies, Anderson declined, as she had no training in acting.
She made many recordings that reflected her
broad performance collection, such as opera and traditional spirituals.
Anderson became an important figure in the
struggle for black artists to overcome racial prejudice in the United States
during the mid-twentieth century.
In 1939, the Daughters of the American
Revolution (DAR) refused permission for Anderson to sing to an integrated
audience in Constitution Hall in Washington, DC.
The incident placed Anderson into the international
community’s spotlight on a level unusual for a classical musician.
With the aid of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt
and her husband, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Anderson performed a critically
acclaimed open-air concert. The event occurred on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939,
on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in the capital.
She sang before an integrated crowd of over
75,000 people and a radio audience in the millions.
Anderson continued to break barriers for black
artists in the United States, becoming the first black person, American or
otherwise, to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on January 7,
1955.
Her performance as Ulrica in Giuseppe Verdi's
Un ballo in maschera at the Met was the only time she sang an opera role on
stage.
Anderson worked as a delegate to the United
Nations Human Rights Committee and as a "goodwill ambassadress" for
the United States Department of State, giving concerts worldwide.
She participated in the civil rights movement
in the 1960s, singing at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963.
That same year, Anderson was awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom 1963. She also won the Congressional Gold Medal
in 1977, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1978, the National Medal of Arts in 1986,
and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1991.