by Victoria Garrett Jones

Sterling Biographies. Sang Marian Anderson, eyes closed and head held high, before a crowd of 75,000 at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday in 1939, after being denied permission to perform for an integrated audience in Washington, D.C.'s Constitution Hall. While she was barred for much of her life from public establishments because of the color of her skin, this gifted artist sang for presidents and kings, at famous concert halls around the world. Her talent and heroism focused the nation's attention on the troubling realities of racial segregation and was an inspiration to African Americans.