Marian Anderson

Marian Anderson (February 27, 1897 – April 8,1993) was an African-American contralto, best remembered for her performance on Easter Sunday, 1939 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. The concert, which ironically co

Marian Anderson (February 27, 1897 – April 8,1993) was an African-American contralto, best remembered for her performance on Easter Sunday, 1939 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. The concert, which ironically commenced with a dignified and stirring rendition of "America (My Country, 'Tis of Thee)", was arranged by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes after the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) banned Marian from singing in Constitution Hall because of her race. As a result of the furor over the DAR's refusal to allow Anderson to sing there, thousands of DAR members, including Eleanor Roosevelt resigned, and just four years later the DAR invited Anderson to sing at a benefit for the American Red Cross.

Marian Anderson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She joined a junior church choir at the age of six, and applied to an all-white music school after her graduation from high school in 1921, but was turned away because she was black. The woman working the admissions counter replied "We don't take colored" when she tried to apply. Consequently, she continued her singing studies with a private teacher.