Women of Wednesday: Marian Anderson

Since we’ve just celebrated Easter, I thought it was a good time to remember Marian Anderson.

Born in Philadelphia in 1897 and growing up in the African-American church, Marian’s musical gifts were recognized when she was very young. She joined the junior choir when she was just 6 and moved into the adult choir at 13. She taught herself to play the piano and at one time considered making the violin her career, but it was clear to others that her voice was extraordinary. When she was 15 the Philadelphia Choral Society held a benefit concert to raise money for her to take lessons. (Her father had just died, and Marian and her mother and sisters had moved into their grandparents’ home. There was no money for voice lessons.)

Marian transferred from a commercial track at school to the music program at South Philadelphia high school, but when she began applying to music schools she hit a wall of prejudice that shocked her. With on-going support from the Black community in Philadelphia she was able to continue lessons with a well-known teacher, Guiseppe Boghetti. He encouraged her to continue her career. By the 1920s she was travelling and singing in Black churches and school halls. In 1924 her manager booked her into the New York Town Hall, but the concert was a disaster. Marian proved to be uncomfortable singing in foreign languages and critics wrote dismissively of her voice. Fortunately, winning a local competition convinced her not to abandon her career, and over the next couple of years she continued to develop her voice and her repertoire. She performed a solo recital at Carnegie Hall in 1928 and the New York Times praised her voice.

Marian went to Britain on a scholarship from the National Association of Negro Musicians in 1930, and spent five years mostly touring in Europe, where she sang for the kings of Sweden and Denmark and was praised by Sibelius and Toscanini. She returned to New York’s Town Hall in 1935 and was a huge success.

By 1939, Anderson was an acclaimed performer, the third highest box-office draw in the country. She toured across the continent and into Latin America, playing to packed houses while, often struggling to find places to eat and sleep, as so many places refused to serve people of color. In April, the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow Marian to perform at Constitution Hall in Washington, DC.

This insult sparked outrage across the country. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the DAR. She also spoke with Harold Ickes, then Secretary of the Interior. Ickes scheduled a free, open-air concert on the National Mall for Easter Sunday, April 9. Marian Anderson stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and sang her heart out for 75,000 people. Millions more heard the concert on the radio. No more appropriately symbolic setting could have been chosen. In later years, Marian said she felt at that moment that she had become “a symbol.” Obviously it would be many long years before the Civil Rights movement made the question of racial discrimination a kitchen-table discussion, but the image and sound of Marian Anderson singing “My Country, ‘Tis of thee, Sweet Land of Liberty” in front of Lincoln’s statue became a landmark in the march for justice.

Marian married in 1943 but continued to sing, entertaining the troops and wounded during the War and debuting at the Met in New York at the age of 58, the first African-American to sing as a member of the company there.  She sang at the inaugurations of both Dwight Eisenhower and John Kennedy, and in 1963 she sang at the March on Washington. Her final Carnegie Hall appearance was on Easter Sunday of 1965. She died in 1993 (also in April, just 3 days before Easter . . .)

The Marian Anderson Historical Society’s webpage has an audio player with ten of Marian’s recordings on it (and, of course, lots of photos and information.)