Marian+Anderson



Marian Anderson was born on February 27, 1897 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and grew up with two younger sisters. Anderson faced a lot of prejudice in America because of her color and would not let her her sing with an all white singing group, no matter how good she was. After a while she applied for the New York Philharmonic and it ended with a great success. They took her to tour in europe where she did not face any hate against her color. When Anderson came back to America, she performed in New York city and the following year she became the first African American to perform at the White House at the Roosevelt's Invitation. In 1939, Anderson tried to rent Constitution Hall in DC, but the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) denied her request. Upon that decision Eleanor Roosevelt and other members resigned from the group, and Roosevelt let Anderson sing on the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Day,1939. An audience of 75,000 citzens came to see her sing. She died on Apri 8,1993.

Information Provided by: America Pathways to the Present textbook pg. 547, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marian_Anderson

Picture by: http://www.afrovoices.com/gallery/anderson7.jpg