Who Was Marian Anderson?

Marian Anderson was born on February 27, 1897 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and died of hear failure on April 8, 1993 at the age of 96. She was a very important figure in the civil rights movements because she was best known as the lady who sang at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.

She had a wonderful voice, but because she was black, she was denied the right to sing at many concerts and performances. On April 9, 1939 she went and sang at the Lincoln Memorial. This concert at the Lincoln Memorial was arranged after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to let her perform at Constitution Hall because she was black. This concert was really nothing big, but it became the highlight of her long and successful music and singing career.

Marian Anderson was honored on a stamp from the U.S. Postal Service in 2005.