Anderson, Marian (1902-1993)

US contralto whose rich voice had a large range. She toured Europe in 1930, but in 1939 was barred from singing at Constitution Hall, Washington, DC, because she was black. In 1955 she sang at the Metropolitan Opera, the first black singer to appear there. In 1958 she was appointed an alternate (deputizing) delegate to the United Nations.

Primarily a solo singer and recitalist rather than an opera singer, she won audiences worldwide with her beautiful, vibrant voice and her warm personality. She was one of the most important nonpolitical figures in the civil rights movement and the fight against racism in the USA.

She received the US Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 and on her 75th birthday was presented with a gold medal by the US Congress.

Early struggle Anderson was born and grew up in Pennsylvania. She joined her local Baptist church choir when she was six, and by the time she was a teenager she was singing in oratorio, specializing in Bach. Because of her colour, she was not permitted to enter a Philadelphia music school. However, friends and sympathizers raised enough money to send her to New York to study. She gave recitals in and around New York and won a competition to sing with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. This should have launched her on a successful career, but racial prejudice proved a serious obstacle, although her European tour met an enthusiastic reception in every country, including the USSR.

Career When she returned to New York by the mid-1930s, her reputation was assured. Following her bar from singing at Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution, who owned the building, the first lady Eleanor Roosevelt arranged for her to sing at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, before an audience of 75,000. This marked a historic occasion in the struggle for equal rights in the USA.

Anderson continued her career after World War II and made several tours during the 1950s, including a tour of Asia. She made history again 1955 when she sang Ulrica, the fortune teller, in Verdi's opera Un ballo di mascera/A Masked Ball at the Metropolitan Opera, New York. Her farewell concert was held at Carnegie Hall, New York, in 1965.