Tifereth Israel Congregation

Tribute to Marian Anderson

Featuring our own Carolivia Herron as the librettist.

It was 70 years ago when Fred Hand, the ostensibly racially motivated manager of Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., barred Marian Anderson, a magnificent contralto known at home and abroad, from singing at Constitution Hall. The hall was owned by the Daughters of the American Revolution, and they did not overturn Hand's decision. An outraged Eleanor Roosevelt promptly dropped her DAR membership, a public hue and cry ensued, and then at the invitation of Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, Miss Anderson went on to perform from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial with thousands of  Americans in attendance.

Marian Anderson would have been 102 if she had lived to this day.