Marian Anderson’s amazingly long and stunningly successful career as a singer is just the beginning of her story. A reluctant icon of the civil rights movement, rising to prominence in the early 1960’s, her story is one of struggle against self-doubt and ra-cial prejudice – yet she later earned universal acclaim as a passionate advocate for human rights and education. Through video and audio examples, we will witness her extraordinary expressive abilities, whether on the opera stage, at the White House, or in front of tens of thousands at the Lincoln Memorial.
When I sing, I don’t want them to see that my face is black; I don’t want them to see that my face is white – I want them to see my soul. And that is colorless.” M.A.