Philadelphia native Marian Anderson was a historical figure whose prominence as a classical singer in a still segregated nation made her an icon of the 20th century. Her performance at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 was an act of defiance against discrimination that was coordinated of then-First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Following the landmark event that drew the attention of tens of thousands, Anderson continued her life singing and using the arts to produce an inclusive area for all creative minds and to fight for civil rights.
Her concert at the memorial is the touchstone moment most of us learned about in our history classes in school. But who was Marian Anderson?
A new exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., called “One Life: Marian Anderson” provides a glimpse into the singer, showing her life through a number of photographs, audio clips and paintings ranging from 1898 through the late-1980s, including performances at her Danbury, Conn., home, and pictures with composers like Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland.
This is the first “One Life” exhibition by the National Portrait Gallery dedicated to Marian Anderson, according to exhibit curator Leslie Urena.
“When I arrived at the Portrait Gallery I was particularly drawn to this series, and in looking into our collection, realized we had several works depicting Marian Anderson. Up to that point, what I knew about her was mainly related to the 1939 Lincoln Memorial Concert, but I suspected that there was more to her story,” wrote Urena, an associate curator of photographs at the gallery, in a Friday email. “As I started looking at the literature and her own papers, it quickly became clear that she was a perfect candidate for an exhibition.
“Not only is she a symbol of the civil rights movement, but through her story we also learn about the histories of segregation in the performing arts, classical music, and even diplomacy.”
“One Life: Marian Anderson,” which opened June 28, is the latest exhibit at the portrait gallery focused on the cultural influence of women since the Civil War.
“By focusing on Anderson’s multi-faceted and lengthy career, the exhibition shows how her influence extended into surprising places, including cultural diplomacy and other art,” wrote Urena. “For example, the painter Beauford Delaney, whose 1965 portrait of Anderson is included in the exhibition as a loan from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, sought to make art that was inspired by Anderson’s approach to music. In turn, the writer James Baldwin, who was a friend of Delaney’s, admired both Delaney and Anderson greatly. Baldwin saw them as models to follow as he realized that he too could pursue a career in the arts.
“This is but one story that shows the impact of her music and presence on and off the stage.”
A look at the social landscape that fostered selective inclusion into a particular genre of the arts was apparent even before Anderson was an accomplished signer according to local historians who say the classical music scene was not a genre for African Americans to break into at the time.
“The classical music arena was a very hard area for blacks to penetrate, even today,” said V Chapman Smith, a retired regional administrator for the National Gallery who lives in Philadelphia. “There’s a lot of things people don’t understand about Marian Anderson. She was part of a community with a deep history of classical music, and she stands on the shoulders of other black classical singers who were not able to find their careers strongly in America.”
Smith added that black singers may not have had the level of notoriety or success as Anderson, but they were successful in their respective communities.
“The black community in Philadelphia has been powerful in the music created and the singers they produced. I can see how Elizabeth Greenfield’s work helped to encourage the kind of music that came out of Union Baptist that shaped Marian Anderson, and therefore was able to shape her desire to be a singer.”
Perhaps the first prolific African-American woman to gain attention for singing was Elizabeth Greenfield, another singer with Philadelphia roots who was breaking barriers decades before Anderson was. Known as the “Black Swan,” Greenfield established herself in as an accomplished singer and was popular throughout Europe, notably performing for Queen Victoria. Greenfield died in 1876.
Life Greenfield, Anderson, too, achieved initial success in Europe before establishing herself in America.
Delaware Valley University history professor Craig Stutman said Anderson broke the glass ceiling, and the color line, for entertainers who came after her.
“That was her legacy, and it is her legacy to this day,” he said. “It sets the groundwork for the musicians to come in the ’40s, ’50s and beyond. She was doing that in the arena of classical music which was a very insulated community, often one based especially on race, it’s remarkable.”
Smith said Anderson’s celebrity “enabled many African-American singers of a lot of different forms to have a more visible presence.”
During Anderson’s career through the 1960s she saw the rise of other prominent black singers like Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin and so many others who became integrated into the popular music scene.
Curator Urena said she heard Anderson referred to as the “Beyonce as her day” during a research trip.
“She was incredibly popular, not only as a classical vocalist, but as a cultural figure. Her legacy has had a profound impact on artists to follow, including Beyonce and others,” she said. “As the first African-American performer to sign as a soloist with the Metropolitan Opera, for instance, she shattered that barrier. She performed at the White House on multiple occasions, as well as at more than one inauguration.”
Becoming an “icon” or “symbol” was known to Anderson, said Urena, but she, “modestly pointed to her singing as the true focus of anyone’s interest.”
Combined with the talent and careers of Greenfield, Anderson and Robert McFerrin Sr. (the first African American ever to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York), these prominent African-American singers have left a distinct legacy to aspiring singers generations later.
Smith’s own daughter, Veronica Chapman Smith, has been performing at the Philadelphia Opera Company for approximately 10 years, inspired by these very greats who came before her.
“She (Anderson) was a trailblazer for sure, an inspiration for sure,” said Smith. “In middle school she (Veronica) knew she wanted to be an opera singer. She knew there were other opera singers before her who were women of color. Anderson has been helpful with African Americans to see that.”
Anderson’s legacy continues even after her death in 1993 at age 96. She died in Oregon but her body was interred with her mother and siblings at Eden Cemetery in Collingdale. Greenfield, too, is interred at Eden.
Eden is the final resting place for a number of historical African Americans. Anderson is one of the most well-known persons to be interred at the historic cemetery.
“We have in that cemetery some of the most important people who participated in some of the most important events in our nation, as well as most important events in Pennsylvania history. She would definitely be in the top three of four buried there,” said Smith. “The people here grabbed her as their own in life and in death.”
She continued, “Studying Marian Anderson and her life and contributions can only make us better and stronger and see the beauty of humans. Race shouldn’t be an issue about it, it should be the quality of the singing and beauty.
Stutman, who also sits on the board at Eden, said when people think of this cemetery, “they think of Anderson.
“I think that she’s one of a list of incredible heroes and figures that are buried there,” he said. “It defines the place as well because there’s not really a month that doesn’t go by where some historic figure is getting a ceremony for commemoration.”
“One Life: Marian Anderson” will be open to the public at the National Portrait Gallery through May 2020. For more information visit https://npg.si.edu/exhibition/one-life-marian-anderson.
