Marian was the eldest of the three Anderson children. She therefore earned an income caring for small children. As she did not obtain a degree, Annie Anderson was unable to teach in Philadelphia under a law that was applied only to black teachers and not white ones. Prior to her marriage, Anderson's mother was briefly a student at the Virginia Seminary and College in Lynchburg and had worked as a schoolteacher in Virginia. Her father sold ice and coal at the Reading Terminal in downtown Philadelphia and eventually also sold liquor. Marian Anderson was born in Philadelphia on February 27, 1897, to John Berkley Anderson (c. 3.3 Presidential inaugurations and goodwill ambassador tours.The recipient of numerous awards and honors, Anderson was awarded 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 participated in the civil rights movement in the 1960s, singing at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. In addition, she worked as a delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Committee and as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United States Department of State, giving concerts all over the world. On January 7, 1955, Anderson became the first African-American singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera. She sang before an integrated crowd of more than 75,000 people and a radio audience in the millions.
Roosevelt, Anderson performed a critically acclaimed open-air concert on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939, on the Lincoln Memorial steps in the capital. With the aid of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and her husband President Franklin D. The incident placed Anderson in the spotlight of the international community on a level unusual for a classical musician. In 1939 during the era of racial segregation, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused to allow Anderson to sing to an integrated audience in Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C.
Anderson performed with renowned orchestras in major concert and recital venues throughout the United States and Europe between 19.Īnderson was an important figure in the struggle for African-American artists to overcome racial prejudice in the United States during the mid-twentieth century. She performed a wide range of music, from opera to spirituals. Marian Anderson (February 27, 1897 – April 8, 1993) was an American contralto. Marian Anderson in 1940, by Carl Van Vechten