Anderson, Marian

Anderson, Marian (1897-1993), American contralto, who was the first African-American singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. She was born in Philadelphia, and trained there, in Chicago, and in Europe. In 1925, as the prize for winning a competition, she appeared with the New York Philharmonic. Her reputation was established through a concert tour of Europe in the early 1930s. Her 1955 debut at the Metropolitan Opera House as Ulrica in Verdi's A Masked Ball was the first performance of a black soloist with the Metropolitan Opera. In 1958 she was a delegate from the United States to the United Nations. Anderson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 and a Congressional gold medal in 1978. She retired from singing in 1965, and in 1991 she received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Her autobiography is titled My Lord, What a Morning (1956).