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Marian Anderson

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@ National Portrait Gallery

Description

Arturo Toscanini said that Marian Anderson had a voice that came along "once in a hundred years." When one of her teachers first heard her sing, the magnitude of her talent moved him to tears. Because she was black, however, Anderson's initial prospects as a concert singer in this country were sharply limited, and her early professional triumphs took place mostly in Europe. Ultimately, her musical gifts also won her recognition in the United States.In 1939 Anderson became the focus of a highly publicized racial incident, which began when the Daughters of the American Revolution blocked her appearance at its Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. The affair generated great sympathy for Anderson and culminated with her concert at the Lincoln Memorial, which became a defining moment in America's civil rights movement.
Type:
Image
Format:
Gelatin Silver Print
Rights:
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of George R. Rinhart
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Record Contributed By

National Portrait Gallery

Record Harvested From

Smithsonian Institution