Marian Anderson / William Henry Johnson /c. 1945, Oil on paperboard /Smithsonian American Art Museum, gift of the Harmon FoundationAccessed: https://npg.si.edu/exhibition/one-life-marian-anderson. Re-used for educational use according to the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use.
Marian Anderson, New York / Irving Penn / 1948, Gelatin silver print / Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania Libraries.
© The Irving Penn Foundation Accessed: https://npg.si.edu/exhibition/one-life-marian-anderson. Re-used for educational use according to the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use.
American Singer and Diplomat • 1897-1993 • Western Classical Music and African-American Spirituals
Fast Facts
- Born February 27, 1897 in Philadelphia, PA
- Became a choir member at her church at 6 years old, nicknamed “Baby Contralto”
- Choir members raised money to send her to train with well-known voice teacher Giuseppe Boghetti
- Toured extensively through Europe
- Invited by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to perform at the White House, becoming the first African-American to receive that honor
- Denied the opportunity to perform at Constitution Hall by Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) on account of her race
- Her rejection from the DAR caused an uproar, leading Eleanor Roosevelt to publicly withdraw her own DAR membership and work to secure a performance for Anderson at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday, 1939, which became one of Anderson’s most famous performances
- Sang at the inauguration of both Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy Jr.
- Sang at the 1963 March on Washington, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech
- First African-American to perform with the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1955
Musician of the Month Project 