ANDERSON, MARIAN (1897-1993)

African-American Contralto

One of the most celebrated singers of her time, Anderson was refused permission to perform at Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1939, due to racial prejudice. In response, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigned her membership in the organization, and a concert was arranged for Easter Sunday, 1939, at the Lincoln Memorial. On January 7, 1955, Anderson became the first black person to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.

Document Signed, 6” x 9”, “Marian Anderson,” a four-page printed program for “her twelfth consecutive coast-to-coast tour of her native land,” presented by the Civic Music Association; signed diagonally across the text of the title page.

The program has general soiling and wear, along with several folds and light creases, and there is a break in the paper in the mid-left margin.