The Smithsonian's History of America in 101 Objects by Richard Kurin

Author:Richard Kurin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2013-09-28T16:00:00+00:00

MARIAN ANDERSON AT LINCOLN MEMORIAL BY ROBERT SAUNDERS, SCURLOCK STUDIO

National Museum of American History

After the Lincoln Memorial concert, Anderson went on to enjoy a full and acclaimed career. She entertained the troops performing concerts during World War II, and finally appeared at the DAR’s Constitution Hall for a Red Cross benefit concert in 1943. In 1955, she became the first African American to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. She sang at the presidential inaugurations of both Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy. She served as a U.S. representative to the UN Human Rights Committee and as a goodwill ambassador. She toured the world. Active in the civil rights movement, she returned to the Lincoln Memorial with the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to sing for the March on Washington in 1963. And when she did her farewell performance tour, she began it at Constitution Hall and completed it at Carnegie Hall. She was honored for her achievements with a host of awards, from the UN Peace Prize to a Congressional Gold Medal and the National Medal of Arts. She received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and, upon her death in 1993, the U.S. government honored her by placing her likeness on a commemorative medal and a postage stamp.

Anderson inspired other classical artists of color, such as sopranos Leontyne Price and Jessye Norman. In her later years, she befriended and mentored mezzo-soprano and Washington, D.C., native Denyce Graves. In one of those “only at the Smithsonian moments,” I had the opportunity of talking with Denyce Graves following the groundbreaking ceremony for the Smithsonian’s National African American Museum of History and Culture. Graves had sung the national anthem at the event, and President Obama, who had made a speech, had invited some of the attendees back to the White House. As we waited for the president and Mrs. Obama, Graves asked me how the new museum was acquiring its collections. I told her that people were coming forth with all sorts of things from their attics and basements that told the story of African Americans in this country. She confided that she had something, and wanted to know if the Smithsonian might be interested. She told me how Marian Anderson had befriended her and given her a dress—though not the one worn that Easter Sunday—as a keepsake. I noted that we had the mink coat, and said that it would be glorious to reunite these two items. Months later, Graves donated the dress as a tangible reminder of the grace and talent of Marian Anderson.

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