Embarking on a Career and International Acclaim:

Eventually, she was able to obtain free music lessons from Mary Saunder Patterson, an African-American singer. She then became a student of Giuseppe Boghetti, a respected classical music instructor. Donations from her church initially paid for her lessons, but when these funds ran out, Boghetti waived his fees.

In 1923, she won a singing contest in Philadelphia and two years later, in 1925, she won first prize in a vocal competition held by the New York Philharmonic, appearing as a soloist with that ensemble in Lewisohn Stadium. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in New York in 1929.

Teaching her songs by German, French, and Italian composers, Boghetti was instrumental in urging her to study in Europe and master foreign languages. She sang her first professional engagement in London in 1930. Although that first European trip was somewhat disappointing and lasted only one year, she was able to return in 1933 through fellowship money from the Julius Rosenwald Fund of Philadelphia. She was an unqualified success in Europe during this tour and performed to rave reviews in Germany, Austria, England, the Soviet Union and the Scandinavian countries, in part due to her peerless interpretations of African-American spirituals.

In 1939 came the most famous - or rather, infamous - instance of this environment of racism. Hurok attempted to secure a concert performance by her in Washington, D.C.’s Constitution Hall. Because she was black, Ms. Anderson was barred from performing in the auditorium by its managing body, the Daughters of the American Revolution, under grounds of “traditional” segregation. Politicians, community and church leaders, and the general public - both black and white - denounced this decision. The public resignation from the D.A.R. of Eleanor Roosevelt, then First Lady of the United States, further stirred a national outcry.

A people’s committee arranged for a concert by her on Easter Sunday, responding to a formal invitation from Secretary of the Interior Harold I. Ickes, influenced by Mrs. Roosevelt, to use the steps of the Lincoln Memorial as a platform and the great mall as an outdoor auditorium. Broadcast over national radio, the concert was attend by a huge and enthusiastic audience of 75,000 people - the largest gathering at the mall in its history up to that time. Later in 1939, Ms. Anderson was presented with the NAACP’s Spingarn Award for the “highest and noblest achievement by an American of African descent.”

Ms. Anderson continued her enthralling concert performances throughout the U.S. and Europe, but one performance arena was still denied her - the opera stage. It was not until 1945 that the color barrier in opera fell, when baritone Todd Duncan became the first African-American male and Camila Williams became the first African-American female to appear - both at the New York City Opera company. The nation’s foremost opera company - the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York - was still closed to black singers, until Marian Anderson overcame discrimination and paved the way for others.
It took the appointment of Rudolph Bing in 1950 as the General Manager of the Metropolitan for this barrier to begin to fall. After having hired the first black member of the Metropolitan - ballerina Janet Collins - in 1951, Bing invited Marian Anderson to join the opera company in 1954. She made her long-overdue debut at the Metropolitan in January, 1955, in the role of Ulrica in Un Ballo in Maschera by Verdi, to the overwhelming acclaim of the audience and musical critics.

Impact on Our Culture:

Recognized for her virtuosic musical talent, as well as her generosity and commitment to others, Ms. Anderson was the recipient of many honors and awards, particularly from her home city of Philadelphia, including the $10,000 Bok Award (which she used to establish an award to assist vocal artists), the Gimbel Award, and the prestigious Philadelphia Award. She was awarded twenty-four honorary degrees by institutions of higher learning; and she received medals from innumerable countries.
In 1957, she was appointed by the U.S. Department of State to serve as a Special Envoy to the Far East, and the following year, President Dwight D. Eisenhower named her to the post of delegate to the General Assembly of the United Nations. She sang at President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration in 1961; in 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom upon her. On her 75th birthday in 1974, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution ordering a special gold medal minted in her honor.

A master of repertoire across operatic, recital, and American traditional genres, Marian Anderson played a vital role in the acceptance of African-American musicians in the classical musical world. Her grace and effortless virtuosity under unknowable pressures remains a model for all, and her voice remains one of the true treasures of our country and the world.

On April 8, 1993, Marian Anderson died at the age of 96 in Portland, Oregon