frazzledspice's Full Review: Russell Freedman - The Voice That Challenged a Nat...
The Voice That Challenged a Nation will be donated to the Mississippi Humanities Council as part of hadassahchana’s and dramastef’s “Fight Illiteracy Write-off.” To read other write-off entries, or to participate yourself by buying a children’s book, reviewing it, and donating it to the Mississippi Humanities Council, please visit their profile pages: http://www.epinions.com/user-hadassahchana or http://www.epinions.com/user-Dramastef.
The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights, is, like its subject, destined to be a classic. The hardcover book, winner of Newbery Honors and the Robert F. Sibert Medal, has a beautiful dustjacket, tan and gold, with a picture of Ms. Anderson’s historical performance at the Lincoln Memorial in sepia tones. The 102-page story is printed on medium-gloss paper and punctuated with numerous black and white photos from Ms. Anderson’s life, program covers from her concerts, and tiny bits of operatic sheet music. When I received the book I am going to donate from Overstock.com, I was delighted to see it was signed by the author, Russell Freedman, who has received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for writing 41 high quality non-fiction children’s books.
A poor child, perhaps a poor aspiring singer, who received such a beautiful book would not only be inspired, but also hopefully, inclined to cherish it as an heirloom.
Opera’s Jackie Robinson
Legendary contralto Marian Anderson is known and remembered not only for her magnificent voice and brilliant career, but also for breaking the color barrier in the New York City Metropolitan Opera. In January, 1955, she debuted in Guiseppe Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Machera”, the first black singer to appear with the opera as a regular company member.
Ms. Anderson, then 58 years old, had been breaking down barriers through music all her life.
Growing up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the oldest of three girls, Marian saw her parents struggle as manual laborers all their lives. When her father died in 1912, Marian and her family moved in with her grandparents.
Marian, known as “the baby contralto” at Union Baptist Church, had been singing in public for a quarter for many years. After her father’s death, she raised her price to $5 to help her family and attempt to continue her education.
Union Baptist, realizing her potential, raised money for her to attend music school, but she was rejected because of her race. She was only able to find one voice teacher in the whole city, a well-known black soprano, who would take her. Because of financial problems and the need to help her family, she did not graduate from high school until she was 24.
After graduating from high school, she began touring with a talented black pianist, William King. Traveling through the South, they saw Jim Crow in action, limiting their travel and accommodations, and forcing them to play to segregated audiences.
Her first “big break” came when she won a contest in New York City, entitling her to sing at Lewisohn Stadium. Inspired to strive even higher, she received a scholarship to study in Europe, and, from there, began playing in concert halls throughout the continent.
Upon her return to the United States, she sang for President and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt. This was the beginning of a lifelong friendship for Anderson and Eleanor Roosevelt. And so, when Roosevelt learned that the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to rent Constitution Hall to Howard University so that Anderson could perform in Washington, D.C., she wrote a newspaper column about it and resigned from the DAR.
Arrangements were made for Anderson to sing at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday, 1939. The event was attended by hundreds of thousands, most of who remembered it for the rest of their lives.
During World War II, Anderson sang for military men and women at military bases and hospitals throughout the country. She even gave benefit performances to aid wartime causes—and one of those was held at Constitution Hall.
For the remainder of her career, Anderson continued to perform with symphony orchestras all over the country, collecting many honorary degrees and awards along the way. Her final performance was at Carnegie Hall in 1965. Anderson was 67 years old.
Retiring to Marianna Farm in Connecticut with her husband, Anderson continued to give speeches and served as a narrator of Aaron Copland’s musical tribute, A Lincoln Portrait. She established a scholarship fund for young singers. At age 87, she received the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award.
After the death of her husband, Anderson moved in with her nephew, James de Priest, music director of the Oregon Symphony. She died at the age of ninety-six on April 8, 1993.
This biography is a serious book for older children—ten and up, I’d say. It has footnotes, a discography, and picture credits. It chronicles not only Anderson’s life, but also the history of the era, and the struggles of all black people in the early 20th century.
Nevertheless, it is a very hopeful book, because it shows what men and women of talent and determination can achieve, despite the obstacles in their way.
Young people need to develop a love of reading, and they need to have dreams. The Voice That Challenged a Nation will help them achieve both of those goals.
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