The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights

Author(s) Russell Freedman
Illustrator(s)
Age Group 9-12
Publisher Clarion Books
ISBN 978-0618159765
Year 2004

This book is a chronological account of one of the nation's greatest African-American vocalists, from her childhood in Philadelphia through her acclaimed U.S. and European concert tours in the 1920s and 1930s. Though Anderson did not set out to be a political activist, her prominence put her in a position to expose the injustices of segregation. Anderson’s historic 1939 Easter concert at the Lincoln Memorial—a response to the Daughters of the American Revolution's refusal to allow her to appear at Constitution Hall—is a milestone in both musical and civil rights history.

Related Content