A celebrated contralto, Ms. Anderson was the first Black artist to perform at the Metropolitan Opera House. In 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused to let her sing to an integrated audience in their Constitution Hall. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the DAR in protest and helped organize a concert at the Lincoln Memorial instead, where Ms. Anderson sang before a live audience of 75,000 and a radio audience of millions. Ms. Anderson supported the civil rights movement of the 60's, and sang at the 1963 March on Washington. She was a delegate to the UN Human Rights Committee, and lived to be 96.
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dj SanguineSanguine Fromage, WERU radio personality since 2005, current host of UpFront Soul, former host of The Nightfly, Off the Wall, Enjoy Yourself, and Sound Travels. Archives
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