Marian Anderson

Marian Anderson was born on February 27, 1897, in Philadelphia, the eldest of three daughters. Her father sold ice, coal, and later liquor, while her mother, who had briefly studied at a Virginia seminary and worked as a teacher, could not teach in Philadelphia due to a law that applied only to Black teachers. She instead earned money caring for children. Anderson’s parents were devout Christians, and the family was active in the Union Baptist Church. Her aunt Mary, a key musical influence, encouraged her to join the junior choir at age six and took her to concerts and community events. By age six, Anderson was paid small amounts to sing at local functions; by her early teens, she earned up to five dollars per performance. At ten, she joined the People’s Chorus of Philadelphia, often as a soloist.

When Anderson was twelve, her father died after a head injury at work. The family moved in with her paternal grandparents; her grandfather, born enslaved and emancipated in the 1860s, died a year later. Anderson graduated from Stanton Grammar School in 1912. Unable to afford music lessons or high school, she continued performing and learning from anyone willing to teach. Church and community leaders raised money for singing lessons with Mary Saunders Patterson and for her to attend South Philadelphia High School, graduating in 1921. She applied to the Philadelphia Music Academy but was rejected due to its all-white policy. Undeterred, she studied privately with Agnes Reifsnyder and then Giuseppe Boghetti, who was moved to tears by her audition. A 1924 recital at New York’s Town Hall drew a small audience and poor reviews. In 1923, she made her first recordings for the Victor Talking Machine Company.

Between 1925 and 1965, Anderson performed a wide range of music—from opera to spirituals—with major orchestras in concert halls across the United States and Europe. She became a key figure in the fight against racial prejudice for African-American artists. In 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution barred her from singing to an integrated audience at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. With help from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Anderson gave a critically acclaimed open-air concert on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. She sang before an integrated crowd of over 75,000 people, with millions more listening on the radio. The event was documented in the film *Marian Anderson: The Lincoln Memorial Concert*.

On January 7, 1955, Anderson became the first African-American singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera. She also served as a delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Committee and as a Goodwill Ambassador for the U.S. State Department, giving concerts worldwide. She participated in the civil rights movement, singing at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. Anderson received numerous honors: the first Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963, 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. She died on April 8, 1993.