Marian Anderson
1897-1993
Marian Anderson was a American operatic contralto. In
1939 the Daughters of the American
Revolution refused to let her perform at their Constitution
Hall in Washington DC because she was black. The outrage caused many,
such as first lady Eleanor Roosevelt,
to quit the organization in protest. Instead, Anderson was invited by
the Secretary of the Interior to performed an Easter
concert on the
steps of the Lincoln Memorial to an integrated audience of over 75,000
people.
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