Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
Marian Anderson
Photographed By Don Morfe, March 23, 2015
1. Marian Anderson Marker
Inscription.
Marian Anderson. . World-renowned contralto. As a child she sang in this church. Toured Europe and U.S. starting in the 1930s. Her concert at the Lincoln Memorial, 1939, drew 75,000 people. First African-American in Metropolitan Opera, 1955. Delegate to UN, 1958. Died 1993.
World-renowned contralto. As a child she sang in this church. Toured Europe & U.S. starting in the 1930s. Her concert at the Lincoln Memorial, 1939, drew 75,000 people. First African-American in Metropolitan Opera, 1955. Delegate to UN, 1958. Died 1993.
Erected 1993 by Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission.
Location. 39° 56.572′ N, 75° 10.47′ W. Marker is in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia County. It is in Graduate Hospital. Marker is on Fitzwater Street. The marker is located in front of the Union Baptist Church. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 1910 Fitzwater Street, Philadelphia PA 19146, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, February 16, 2015
4. Marian Anderson
This portrait of Marian Anderson by Betsy Graves Reyneau hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.
“Arturo Toscanini said that Marian Anderson had a voice that came along ‘once in a hundred years.’ When one of Anderson's teachers first heard her sing, the magnitude of her talent moved him to tears. Because she was black, however, her initial prospects as a concert singer in this country were sharply limited, and her early professional triumphs took place mostly in Europe. The magnitude of her musical gifts ultimately won her recognition in the United States as well. Despite that acclaim, in 1939 the Daughters of the American Revolution banned her from performing at Constitution Hall. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt ultimately intervened and facilitated Anderson's Easter Sunday outdoor concert at the Lincoln Memorial—an event witnessed by 75,000 and broadcast to a radio audience of millions. The affair generated great sympathy tor Anderson and became a defining moment in America's civil rights movement.” — National Portrait Gallery
Credits. This page was last revised on February 2, 2023. It was originally submitted on March 25, 2015, by Don Morfe of Baltimore, Maryland. This page has been viewed 539 times since then and 72 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3. submitted on March 25, 2015, by Don Morfe of Baltimore, Maryland. 4. submitted on October 1, 2015, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.