Profession: Singer
Biography: One of the most celebrated singers of the 20th century.
In 1939 the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused permission for Anderson, an African American to sing to an integrated audience in their Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. Thousands of DAR members, including First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, resigned from the organization as a result.
In response, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Walter White, executive secretary of the NAACP, helped arrange an open-air concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for Anderson. The concert, with a crowd of more than 75,000 people and a radio audience in the millions, was a sensation.
Later in 1955, she became the first African American to perform with the New York Metropolitan Opera.
Born: February 27, 1897
Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Generation: Lost Generation
Star Sign: Pisces
Died: April 8, 1993 (aged 96)
Cause of Death: Congestive heart failure
Career Highlights
- 1939-04-09 American contralto Marian Anderson sings before 75,000 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C; appearance organized after Anderson was denied permission to sing to an integrated audience in Constitution Hall
- 1955-01-07 Marian Anderson becomes the 1st African American to perform with the New York Metropolitan Opera, singing the role of Ulrica in Giuseppe Verdi's "Un ballo in maschera"
- 1963-12-06 President Lyndon B. Johnson confers Presidential Medal of Freedom on 31 recipients selected by JFK, including: contralto Marian Anderson; diplomat Ralph Bunche; cellist Pablo Casals; Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter; labor leader George Meaney; architect Mies van der Rohe; pianist Rudolf Serkin; writers E. B. White and Thorton Wilder; and painter Andrew Wyeth; as well as posthumously to JFK himself, and Pope John XXIII
- 1978-10-17 US President Jimmy Carter presents Congressional Medal to singer Marian Anderson
- 2024-02-27 The Philadelphia Orchestra announces renaming of their concert home as Marian Anderson Hall, in honor of the noted 20th century contralto who was from the city
Personal Life
- 1943-07-17 One of the world's greatest contraltos, American Marian Anderson (46) weds architect Orpheus H. Fisher at the Elmwood Chapel in Bethel, Connecticut
References
Famous Singers
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