Marian Anderson was a famous singer and civil rights activist. Her parents first noticed her talent when she was around six years old, but they did not have the money to pay for lessons. Despite this, she began performing in the People's Chorus when she was ten years old. When she graduated high school, she applied to the Philadelphia Music Academy, but was not admitted because she was African-American. Although she was often discriminated against, she was determined and ended up winning a singing competition in 1925 after training under Giuseppe Boghetti for about a year.
After this, her career really started to take off, but despite her fame she was still discriminated against. The Daughters of the American Revolution refused to let her rent and perform at the Constitution Hall. This led Eleanor Roosevelt to resign fro the DAR, and she and the NAACP fought to allow Marian Anderson to sing at the Lincoln Memorial. She sang at the Eisenhower and Kennedy inaugurations.
Anderson also used her fame and the money she earned to support the Civil Rights Movement, holding concerts to earn money for the NAACP and CORE. Her last tour took place from 1964 to 1965, but she was politically active both before and after this. She was a delegate to the UN, a goodwill ambassador, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP, and a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement.
1 comment:
I love how your writing has a great flow and a clear explanation! Also the photo you used was helpful in reminding me who you were talking about. I found it very interesting that Eleanor Roosevelt was so open-minded and determined to display Anderson's talent due to the contrasting social norms at the time. Great job!
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