Marian Anderson
Black History Project
Marian Anderson was an African-American opera singer. She traveled performing with orchestra and doing her own concerts. In her career, she was offered many roles in orchestra but, she denied because she had no experience in acting. She quickly became a role model for African Americans in the United States. Not only was she a great singer but African Americans were struggling because of racial bias in the middle of the twentieth century. Anderson worked many years as a delegate in United Nations Human Rights Committee giving concerts all around the world. She joined the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960 and sung at the March of Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1978, the National Medal of Arts in 1986 and collected her first Grammy in 1991.
Person: Marian Anderson
Born: February 27, 1897. Philadelphia, PA
Died: April 8, 1993. Portland, OR
Status of family: Rich
Influenced society by: Anderson influenced society by being the first African American to perform at the White House and to perform at the Metropolitan opera.
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I chose this person because she was the absolute first African American to perform at the White House. The hall she performed was for white singers only but Marian Anderson broke that rule and now the White House kets black singers sing there. However, she was the first. She made history.
