1897 - 1993

She leaves behind a profusion of memories: of the racial and cultural barriers she transcended, her serenity and generosity of spirit and above all the divine contralto voice whose range and texture achieved the sonic equivalent of radiance.

Shut out by Jim Crow laws from performing on the American operatic stage, Anderson began touring Europe in the 1920s, drawing vast acclaim and moving deeply all who felt the powerful magnetism of her art. After Anderson was barred in 1939 from singing in Washington's segregated Constitution Hall, Eleanor Roosevelt intervened and arranged for her to perform at the Lincoln Memorial. Ever reserved, Anderson uttered no complaint. When 75,000 blacks and whites assembled at the foot of Lincoln's statue on Easter 1939, they came not just to hear the glorious register of Anderson's voice but also to witness a force that was quietly conquering color boundaries. Her grace under stress conveyed to all Americans a message that blacks had a profound contribution to make to America's cultural life--an expression of moral force that flowed on to connect with Martin Luther King in the 1960s.

Anderson first began singing at age six, learning spirituals at the Union Baptist Church in her hometown of Philadelphia. Her personal fortitude grew out of her faith. "The treasure of religion helps one to face the difficulties one sometimes meets," she allowed. Traveling the country, usually carrying her own bags and ironing her own clothes, she sang with a passion drawn from the burdens she had carried. Because of her color, she was usually forced to enter concert halls and hotels through service entrances. She never sought her lasting place in America's struggle over race relations, yet she did not shirk its weight. When she died last week, her fame was long assured. Whether as the first black singer to perform in the White House (1939), or as the first black to sing in New York's Metropolitan Opera (1955), she never raised her voice except in song. And when she sang, the walls came tumbling down.