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Congressional Gold Medal.com |
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Congressional Gold Medal Recipient
Marian Anderson
Contralto Marian Anderson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A variety of sources (Marian herself ?) suggested February 17, 1902, as her birth date; however, Anderson's birth certificate, released after her death, listed the date as February 27, 1897. Her father was an ice and coal salesman, and her mother was a former teacher. Although Anderson had early showed an interest in the violin, she eventually focused on singing. The Black community, recognizing her talent, gave her financial and moral support. She also gained the notice of tenor Roland Hayes, who provided guidance in her developing career. She first began to sing in the choir of the Union Baptist Church in Philadelphia, learning all the parts from soprano to bass, a factor that helped inadvertently to develop her extraordinary range. Not until she was 15 did she have her first formal lesson. Then the congregation of her church established a Marian Anderson fund to enable her to have regular and thorough training. In 1925 she won a contest in New York, and her prize was an appearance at Lewisohn Stadium with the New York Philharmonic. She was put under contract by a concert manager, but over the next few years her career came almost to a standstill, and she decided that in spite of the financial problems involved she must go to Europe to perfect her Lieder style.
She sang her first European concert in Berlin in 1930 and followed that with an enormously successful Scandinavian tour, in the course of which she sang for Jean Sibelius, who humbly declared, "My roof is too low for you". In August 1935 she capped a sensational two-year circuit of Europe with a recital in Salzburg. "A voice like yours is heard once in a hundred years!" said Arturo Toscanini when he was introduced to her. Miss Anderson's Town Hall recital on December 30, 1935 - presented by Hurok, who had heard her in Paris - was a triumph. "Marian Anderson has returned to her native land, one of the great singers of our time" wrote Howard Taubman in The New York Times. She was then in demand from coast to coast as well as abroad. In 1938 she gave 70 recitals in the United States alone - then the longest, most intense tour in concert history for any singer. The following year she became an international symbol of the Negro's struggle for equality when, denied the use of Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., by its owner, the Daughters of the American Revolution, she sang from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday for an incredible audience of 75,000.
In 1949 the contralto resumed concertizing in Europe and in the 50th added South America, Japan and Israel to her itineraries. On January 7, 1955, Marian Anderson made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Ulrica in Un Ballo in Maschera - the first of her race to sing a leading role at the Met. The fall of 1957 found her on a 10-week tour of India and the Far East under the auspices of the U.S. State Department. Received as an ambassadress by heads of state and by the ordinary people as a great artist and human being, Miss Anderson travelled 39.000 miles, giving 24 concerts in 14 countries. She was accompanied by an audio-video team whose pictorial record was turned into a television program by
Edward R. Murrow and Fred W. Friendly called "The Lady from Philadelphia:' "We made that documentary in the 'See It Now' Series:' wrote Murrow, "because we wanted the American people to know what one woman had accomplished in the field of human communications." The following year President Eisenhower appointed Miss Anderson U.S. delegate on the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations. She sang at
President John F. Kennedy's Inauguration in January 1961, and at Christmas made a special flight to Berlin to sing for the American Armed Forces. In May 1962 she concertized in Australia for the first time. Her farewell tour began in Constitution Hall in October 1964, included the major cities of four continents and ended on April 18,1965, Easter Sunday, in Carnegie Hall. "There have been a considerable number of times when my mind has been forced to consider Marian Anderson not only as a contralto and musician, not only as an artist and patriot, not only as a supreme example of what we are on earth to prove (the American dream), but also as something which has nothing to do with the United States or the American dream," wrote Vincent Sheean. "It is the reality and the imperious exigence of the soul. Marian is a sort of proof of the immortality of the soul, or, if that is too extreme, of the existence of the soul to which an immortality may be postulated." She received the
Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963, a
Congressional Gold Medal in 1978, the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award in 1984 and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1991. Anderson's reputation rests not only on the quality of her voice but also on the dignity with which she asserted her right to be heard. Marian Anderson died in Portland, Oregon, on 8th April, 1993. Marian Anderson, My Lord, What a Morning: An Autobiography (1956); Kosti Vehanen, Marian Anderson: A Portrait (1941; rev. ed., 1970). Marian Anderson b. Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 27 February 1897
d. Portland, Multnomah, Oregon, 8 April 1993
Tuesday, 8 March 1977
Joint Resolution To authorize a special gold medal to be awarded to Miss Marian Anderson. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in recognition of the highly distinguished and impressive career of Miss Marian Anderson for a period of more than a half a century during which she has been the recipient of the highest awards from a score of foreign countries, for her untiring and unselfish devotion to the promotion of the arts in this country and throughout the world including the establishment of scholarships for young people, for her strong and imaginative support to humanitarian causes at home, for her contributions to the cause of world peace through her work as United States delegate to the United Nations and her performances and recordings which have reached an estimated seven million people throughout the world, and her unstinting efforts on behalf of the brotherhood of man, and the many treasured moments she has brought to us with enormous demand on her time, talent, and energy, the President of the United States, or his delegate, is authorized to award to Marian Anderson, in the name of Congress, an appropriate gold medal. For such purpose the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to cause to be struck a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions to be determined by the Secretary. SEC. 2. The Secretary of the Treasury shall cause duplicates in bronze of such medal to be coined and sold, under such regulations as he may prescribe, at a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof (including labor), and the appropriations used for carrying out the provisions of this section shall be reimbursed out of the proceeds of such sale. SEC. 3. There is authorized to be appropriated the sum of $2,500 to carry out the purposes of this resolution. SEC. 4. The gold medal and the bronze duplicates are national medals within the meaning of section 3551 of the Revised Statutes (31 U.S.C. 368). 91 Stat. 19
1977 Marian Anderson Marian Anderson was a world-famous singer who was often treated unfairly. But she didn't give up. She won many awards and her career lasted for more than 30 years. The medal honors her "highly distinguished and impressive career." Even foreign countries gave her awards. She helped the arts to advance in this country and throughout the world, helped world peace through her performances, her recordings, and her work as United States delegate to the United Nations, and gave freely of her time, talent, and energy to enrich our lives. Who is Marian Anderson? Marian Anderson was born on February 27, 1897 in South Philadelphia. She early discovered her love for singing, and became a member of the Union Baptist Church Choir as a child. Misfortune first entered her life in 1912, when her father died. Marian, along with her mother and sisters, moved in with her father's family. Her paternal grandfather was a Jewish convert, adding another layer to Marian's rich spiritual life. As her voice matured into a beautiful contralto, she attempted to attend music school in 1917, but was turned away without even an audition, because of her color. Refusing to be discouraged, she began a professional career in music, although in a small way, singing for benefits and church socials. Impressed by her talents,
African-American soprano Mary Patterson gave her voice lessons for free, acknowledging the tight financial circumstances Ms. Anderson was in. She would receive more help from her high school principal, Dr. Lucy Wilson, who arranged an audition with Giuseppe Boghetti. Impressed with her performance of the spiritual "Deep River', Boghetti agreed to make room for her in his already packed schedule. A well-known musician and instructor, his fee was a very high dollar per lesson, which was far out of the Anderson's budget. Dr. Wilson responded to this challenge by arranging for a benefit through the Union Baptist Church where enough money was raised to pay for a year's worth of lessons. Further benefits were unnecessary as Boghetti refused to charge her after that first year of instruction. Beginning in 1920, Anderson began touring, giving concerts at black colleges and churches. Touring also meant encountering Jim Crow laws, that prevented her from staying in hotels, sitting in good compartments on trains, and being served in many restaurants. In 1923 she won the Philharmonic Society of Philadelphia's vocal contest, the first time an African-American had been awarded the prize. As a result, Anderson sang with the Philadelphia Orchestra in a concert broadcast over radio, still a new technology. This triumph was followed by a disastrous concert at the Manhattan Town Hall in 1924, where the reviews were poor, as was the attendance. Displaying her characteristic determination, Anderson wowed New York just a year later by winning the National Music League contest, and the opportunity to sing with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, this time to excellent reviews. Some of the joy of the occasion may have been taken out by reviews that praised her singing as being good despite her color. For the next five years Marian Anderson sang with the Hall Johnson Choir, a respected group of black singers under the direction of Arthur Judson. The fees were higher than she had been receiving, but the expenses were higher. However, the prestige of the group was considerable, and Anderson considered it worthwhile to obtain. A representative from the Julius Rosenwald Fund offered her a fellowship for further study in Europe after listening to her at a Chicago concert in 1931. For the next few years she lived in Germany with a German family, perfecting her mastery of the language and music forms. She began giving concerts in Germany, Norway, and Scandinavia, where "Marian fever" broke out in enthusiastic response to her music. She met such musical luminaries as Sibelius, Sol Hurok, and Arturo Toscanini, all of whom professed themselves her admirers. She returned to the US for a three-month tour in 1935, to enthusiastic response. Some criticized her using white accompanist Billy King, preferring that she employ an African-American instead. She remained faithful to her choice, though, believing that his loyalty deserved hers. Back in Europe, she toured the Soviet Union, where she encountered confiscation of record albums, and suspicious guards that demanded she sing for them to prove she was who she stated. Most frustratingly, she was instructed to not sing any type of religious music, which formed a great deal of her programme. She got around this injunction by singing the Ave Maria, but listing it only as 'an aria by Schubert', and her much-loved spirituals she listed as 'American Negro songs'. The audience seemed none the wiser, but all loved her performances, and gave an enthusiastic response. Even Stalin came, although he remained unseen in a completely curtained box. When Marian Anderson returned to the US, she discovered that "Marian Fever" was in force at home as well as Europe. Faced with the happy choice of deciding which concerts to agree to, rather than trying to find some, Anderson was thrilled to be offered an invitation from the Roosevelts . She became the first black singer to do perform at the White House when she did so in 1936. Honors continued to come her way: 1938 brought an honorary doctorate from Howard University, and 1939 brought the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP. 1939 also brought her international prominence of another sort. Sol Hurok had attempted to book Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. for Marian Anderson, the largest auditorium in the city. This hall was owned by the Daughters of the American Revolution, a prestigious and very socially conservative organization. They refused to allow Marian Anderson to sing at Constitution Hall, or any other black performer. Sol Hurok decided to make the DAR decision known by reporting it to the newspapers. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt publicly resigned from the DAR in protest, and other members followed suit. Throughout the country, people were shocked by the idea that Marian Anderson was not allowed to hire a concert hall. Hurok asked the DC Board of Education if a concert could possibly be given at Central High School instead, and was refused on the same grounds. The students at all-white Central protested the administration's decision, and picketed the school, to no avail. The situation culminated in Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes offering Ms. Anderson the opportunity to sing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939 at 5 pm. She was not eager to become a symbol, and yet, she had little choice at this point. She agreed to the free concert. On that Easter Sunday, 75,000 people attended of all ages and races to hear her program, which included patriotic and spiritual songs. The Department of the Interior commemorated the event by commissioning a mural, unveiled a year later. Anderson was present at the unveiling, and then attended a benefit concert afterwards at the request of the DAR and at Constitution Hall. The next few years combined professional and personal success. In June 1939, she sang at the White House for the King and Queen of England. In July 1943, married architect King Fisher after a twenty-year courtship. Again she encountered racism in trying to buy a home in areas that did not wish to sell to black couples. Eventually, they settled in Danbury, Connecticut, in a large farmhouse that her husband lovingly renamed Marianna Farm and remodeled to suit her needs, including a private studio for rehearsals. In 1944 her Carnegie Hall concert raised $1.7 million for war-bonds, breaking records. Medals and awards from Liberia, Finland, Sweden, and the Women's Division of Jewish Charities came during the rest of the 1940s. In 1955 Marian Anderson, now 53, again made history by becoming the first African-American to perform with the New York Metropolitan Opera. She had wanted to sing opera as a young woman, but her teacher (Giuseppe Boghetti) had discouraged her, knowing that the prevalence of racism would likely keep her from a career in this field, so this was a particularly individual triumph for her as well. Rudolf Bing, the general manager at the Met, offered her the role of Ulrica in Verdi's The Masked Ball. The role was fairly short, but highly dramatic, and well-suited to Anderson's talents. The audience was wildly enthusiastic about her performance, chanting her name over and over again as the curtain was lowered. Despite the policy against solo bows, her fellow performers gave her a nudge towards the stage, so that the audience could be satisfied with another look at this remarkable woman. From that time on, Anderson's tours and appearances took on another tone-not only was she a great contralto, but she was a symbol of defeated racism, and American progress. A deeply religious woman, Anderson greatly enjoyed her 1955 tour of Israel, seeing the homeland of Judaism, her grandfather's religion, and Christianity, hers. She visited the Dead Sea, the River Jordan, and the site of the city of Jericho. The following year, she published her autobiography, My Lord, What a Morning to critical success. In 1957 she sang The Star Spangled Banner at Eisenhower's second inauguration. That same year the State Department asked her to make a goodwill tour of the East, visiting Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, Burma, Pakistan and India. This tour was filmed by renowned newsman Edward R. Murrow and made into the documentary The Lady from Philadelphia. She joined the US delegation to the United Nations in 1958 at Eisenhower's request, and joined the Trusteeship Council. This group looked at countries that were moving from being colonies to nations-Anderson's focus was on the African countries of Togo and Cameroon. In 1961 she sang at the JFK inauguration, and in 1963, at his memorial service. She chose spirituals to sing at that event, providing balm to a stricken nation. A few days after the memorial service, LBJ presented her with the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, for which Kennedy had nominated her. In October of 1964 she began her last tour by singing again at Constitution Hall in Washington, DC, and ending on Easter Sunday, April 19, 1965 at Carnegie Hall. Her last concert included four encores, after which she gracefully left the stage, despite calls from the audience to continue. Anderson continued working, however. In 1966 President Lyndon Johnson appointed her to the National Council on the Arts, putting her in the position of deciding which candidates best deserved grant money. In 1976 she toured as an actress in
Aaron Copland's A Lincoln Portrait. On her 75th birthday, a huge celebration was held at Carnegie Hall, where Marian Anderson was awarded the United Nations Peace Prize, the New York City Handel Medallion, and a
Congressional Gold Medal (presented by First Lady Rosalynn Carter). In 1978 she received one of the first Annual Kennedy Awards for a lifetime of achievement in the arts, along with Fred Astaire,
George Balanchine, and Richard Rodgers. In 1979 Philadelphia declared August 22 "Marian Anderson Day" and established the Marian Anderson Library and Scholarship Fund at the University of Pennsylvania. The following years were largely quiet, especially after the loss of her husband in 1986. In 1991 Marian Anderson received a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement. In 1993 Marian Anderson died, in the same country in which she had been born, yet very different. No longer were African-Americans turned away from hotels, restaurants, public transportation, or concert halls. With quiet grace, great dignity, and constant faith, she had helped to create these changes in the country that she loved, doing what she loved best.
Written by Kimberly Skopitz
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