{"id":50600,"date":"2024-12-09T13:25:21","date_gmt":"2024-12-09T12:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/17dc4a97-cade-4061-92c0-22fb6d96bf82"},"modified":"2024-12-09T14:09:24","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T13:09:24","slug":"the-black-icon-the-first-lady-and-the-concert-that-changed-america","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/the-black-icon-the-first-lady-and-the-concert-that-changed-america\/","title":{"rendered":"The black icon, the First Lady, and the concert that changed America"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By <\/p>

Published: Monday, 09 December 2024 at 12:25 PM<\/p>

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As her 42nd birthday approached in February 1939, things were looking rosy for the African American contralto<\/a><\/strong> Marian Anderson.<\/p>

Now in her vocal prime, Anderson was an acclaimed and much sought-after recitalist on both the US and European circuits. Yet her rise to prominence had been blighted by the racist attitudes that she regularly encountered, particularly in her native country. In an era when segregation was widespread in America, hotels accepting reservations from Black people could be hard to find and many restaurants served only white diners.<\/p>

Eleven <\/a>black composers who influenced the course of American music<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul>

<\/div> <\/figure> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-eleanor-roosevelt-stages-a-protest\">Eleanor Roosevelt stages a protest<\/h2> <p>So when Constitution Hall in Washington, DC refused to host a concert by Anderson scheduled for 9 April that year \u2013 the venue had a whites-only policy for artists \u2013 the singer would not have found it in the least surprising. A growing number of Americans, however, viewed such exclusions as repulsive. Among them was Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of president Franklin D, and her indignation at Anderson\u2019s debarment prompted immediate action.<\/p> <p>\u2018I am in complete disagreement with the attitude taken in refusing Constitution Hall to a great artist,\u2019 the First Lady wrote to the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), a patriotic group which owned the hall. \u2018You had an opportunity to lead in an enlightened way and it seems to me that your organisation has failed.\u2019 Roosevelt resigned her membership of DAR on 26 February, and set about mobilising support for Anderson\u2019s concert to be mounted in another location.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/who-sang-at-kennedys-inauguration\">Marian Anderson: how the soprano and civil rights activist came to sing at JFK’s inauguration<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Marian Anderson - "Deep River" (Spiritual)\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2bytFrsL4_4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <\/figure> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A symbolic new venue<\/h2> <p>The First Lady’s government connections helped. Before long, secretary of the interior Harold Ickes was charged with making the new concert happen, and an outdoor setting at the Lincoln Memorial on Washington\u2019s National Mall was chosen. The setting was, as Ickes highlighted in a speech preceding Anderson\u2019s 9 April appearance, acutely symbolic.<\/p> <p>\u2018Today we stand reverently and humbly at the base of this memorial to the Great Emancipator,\u2019 he said, \u2018while glorious tribute is rendered to his\u00a0memory by a daughter of the race\u00a0from which he struck the\u00a0chains\u00a0of\u00a0slavery.\u2019<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"> <figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> Marian Anderson with secretary of the interior Harold Ickes, following her 1939 performance at the Lincoln Memorial. Pic: Getty Images – Getty Images <\/figcaption> <\/figure> <p>Anderson herself was trepidatious about the concert. She had never performed outdoors before, the weather was cold and violence by protestors was a possibility. In the event, she need not have worried.<\/p> <p>When she stepped up to a nest of microphones to begin the concert, fur-coated against an April wind, a mixed-race audience of 75,000 thronged the National Mall, anticipating what a newsreel called \u2018the voice acclaimed by many as the\u00a0finest in a century\u2019.<\/p> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What did Marian Anderson sing at the symbolic 1939 Washington concert?<\/h2> <p>The concert lasted 25 minutes. Opening with \u2018America\u2019 (\u2018<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/my-country-tis-of-thee-lyrics\">My Country, \u2018Tis of Thee<\/a><\/strong>\u2019), Anderson continued with the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-aria\">aria<\/a><\/strong> \u2018O mio Fernando\u2019 from <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/gaetano-donizetti\">Donizetti<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s opera <em>La Favorita<\/em> and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/franz-schubert\">Schuber<\/a><\/strong>t\u2019s \u2018<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/ave-maria-lyrics\">Ave Maria<\/a><\/strong>\u2019. Three <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/six-best-choral-arrangements-spirituals\">spirituals<\/a><\/strong> followed \u2013 \u2018Gospel Train\u2019, \u2018Trampin\u2019, and \u2018My Soul Is Anchored in the Lord\u2019 \u2013 with \u2018Nobody Knows the Trouble I\u2019ve Seen\u2019 rounding it all off as an encore.<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2024\/12\/Untitled-design-2024-12-09T120916.970.jpg\" alt=\"Marian Anderson\" class=\"wp-image-217160\"\/> <figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> Marian Anderson standing at the statue of Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC, April 1939. (Photo by: Universal History Archive\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) – Universal History Archive\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images <\/figcaption> <\/figure> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2018I had become a symbol, representing my people\u2019<\/h2> <p>Anderson\u2019s performance made national and international headlines. The<em> New York Times<\/em> reported that an enthusiastic crowd \u2018threatened to mob her\u2019 after the concert, until police intervened. A radio audience of millions also listened to a live relay of the event, and a photo of Anderson performing with the mighty marbled statue of Abraham Lincoln in the background quickly gained iconic status.<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Marian Anderson Sings at Lincoln Memorial\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mAONYTMf2pk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <\/figure> <p>In 2001, footage of the concert was selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry, in recognition of the galvanizing effect which her appearance had exerted on civil rights awareness in America. Anderson herself was not by temperament a political activist, but the importance of the Lincoln Memorial concert did not escape her. \u2018I could see that my significance as an individual was small in this affair\u2019, she said later. \u2018I had become, whether I liked it or not, a symbol, representing my people.\u2019<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Published: Monday, 09 December 2024 at 12:25 PM As her 42nd birthday approached in February 1939, things were looking rosy for the African American contralto Marian Anderson. Now in her vocal prime, Anderson was an acclaimed and much sought-after recitalist on both the US and European circuits. Yet her rise to prominence had been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":50601,"template":"","categories":[1,17],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/the-black-icon-the-first-lady-and-the-concert-that-changed-america.jpg",2560,1910,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/the-black-icon-the-first-lady-and-the-concert-that-changed-america-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/the-black-icon-the-first-lady-and-the-concert-that-changed-america-300x224.jpg",300,224,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/the-black-icon-the-first-lady-and-the-concert-that-changed-america-768x573.jpg",768,573,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/the-black-icon-the-first-lady-and-the-concert-that-changed-america-1024x764.jpg",800,597,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/the-black-icon-the-first-lady-and-the-concert-that-changed-america-1536x1146.jpg",1536,1146,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/the-black-icon-the-first-lady-and-the-concert-that-changed-america-2048x1528.jpg",2048,1528,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Published: Monday, 09 December 2024 at 12:25 PM As her 42nd birthday approached in February 1939, things were looking rosy for the African American contralto Marian Anderson. Now in her vocal prime, Anderson was an acclaimed and much sought-after recitalist on both the US and European circuits. 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