WASHINGTON The life of one of the most celebrated African-American singers of the 20th century is being remembered in Washington. This month marks the 75th anniversary of a groundbreaking concert by Marian Anderson. The performance transformed her into an important figure in the struggle against racial prejudice in the United States.
The high school students at the U.S. Capitol headlined an event honoring African-American singer Marian Anderson, who overcame racial prejudice 75 years ago.
With the help of President Franklin Roosevelt and his wife, Marian Anderson was allowed to perform at an open air concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in April 1939. It would be among many racial barriers she would break.
Andersons concert was organized after she was refused permission to sing at a nearby Constitution Hall because she was black. Following a public outcry 75,000 people instead attended a free concert at the Lincoln Memorial.
Anderson was already well known in Europe in the 1930s, but this concert broadcast around the United States heightened her fame.
She opened the world to this idea of concert singing, and she also brought the history of the Negro spiritual which until then has been like a community-type song, said Washington Performing Arts Society Music Director Stanley Thurston.
