Marian Anderson( 1897 – 1993) was an American contralto. She performed a wide range of music, from
pieces to canticles, in major musicale and recital venues between 1925 and 1965. Anderson was an important
figure in the struggle for African- American artists to overcome ethnical prejudice in the United States during
themid-twentieth century. In 1939, after being banned from performing for an intertwined followership in
Constitution Hall in Washington,D.C., First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and her hubby President FranklinD.
Roosevelt arranged for Anderson to perform an open- air musicale on Easter Sunday on the Lincoln
Memorial way in the capital which was broadcast to a radio followership of millions and was featured in a
talkie film. In 1955, Anderson came the first African- American songster to perform at the Metropolitan
Opera. She worked as a delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Committee and as a Goodwill
Ambassador for the United States Department of State, giving musicales each over the world. She shared in
the civil rights movement in the 1960s, singing at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963.
The philanthropist of multitudinous awards and honors, Anderson was awarded the first Presidential Medal
of Freedom in 1963, the Congressional Gold Medal in 1977, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1978, the
National Medal of trades in 1986, and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1991.
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