Classically Black: Marian Anderson

Roger offers a biography of Marian Anderson, along with recorded selections of her music, and comments from contemporaries and younger vocalists whom she inspired.

Highlights include the Daughters of the American Revolution’s refusal to allow her to perform at Constitution Hall in 1939 in Washington, D.C., because she was black; First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt’s sponsorship of a concert at the Lincoln Memorial that drew 75,000 spectators; and musical selections including Deep River, They Crucified My Lord, Ave Maria and Alto Rhapsody.