The story below is from our May/June 2023 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!
Roanoke was once privileged to host Marian Anderson, who had “a voice that only comes along once in a hundred years.”
Courtesy of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church
Mayor A. R. Minton (center) greets Marian Anderson (center, holding coat) along with Rev. William Simmons (right) and others from Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church.
By the time she arrived in Roanoke in April 1950, Marian Anderson was one of the most sought after voices on the planet. Anderson, a renowned contralto, had performed more than 700 concerts before an estimated 4 million people.
Born in Philadelphia, Anderson demonstrated extraordinary musical talent in childhood, and through scholarships from teachers and her home church, she studied music that culminated in her 1926 debut with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.
The reserved, graceful Anderson achieved notoriety in 1939 that cemented her place in American history. Having toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe and South America, an effort to secure Constitution Hall in Washington, DC, for a concert was rebuffed by the Daughters of the American Revolution who owned the venue, all because Anderson was Black. Through the efforts of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and others, Anderson was granted an even larger venue – the Lincoln Memorial. On Easter Sunday, an estimated 75,000 persons attended her open-air concert. That concert propelled Anderson into the forefront of civil rights and caused her to later be represented on a mural in the Department of Interior office complex.
Collection of the Historical Society of Western Virginia, 2000.23.1
Program cover for Anderson's 1950 Roanoke concert.
Through the 1940s, Anderson continued her American and overseas tours, many performed over radio. For five consecutive seasons in that decade, a poll of 600 music editors in the US and Canada had ranked Anderson as radio’s finest female voice.
In Roanoke, Reverend William J. Simmons, the young and gifted pastor of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, was engaged in a capital campaign for his church’s building fund. The growing congregation at 301 Patton Avenue, NW, was eyeing expansion of their building driven by Simmons’s vision. Through the services of Anderson’s agent, Hurok Attractions of New York, the congregation was able to book the renowned singer for the church-sponsored concert for the benefit of Fifth Avenue’s capital campaign.
Roanoke’s leading Black citizens provided sponsorships, nearly 100 in all, and some served as volunteers on the 20-member Management Committee to prepare for the concert. Gainsboro librarian Virginia Lee was the ticket master, and Claudia Alexander handled the publicity. Local businesses advertised in the concert program, including many in the Henry Street area such as Ware’s Restaurant, Prunty and Prunty Cleaners, Hotel Dumas, Loyd’s Beauty Salon, and Neal’s Barbershop. Leggett’s, Webber Florist, and Samuel Krisch were also advertisers.
Upon arrival at the Norfolk & Western Railway passenger station, Anderson was greeted by Simmons and other leaders in the congregation as well as Roanoke Mayor A. R. Minton. Advance ticket sales had been brisk and by the time Anderson took the stage of the American Legion Auditorium at 8:30 p.m. on April 11, it was standing room only. Some had traveled over 200 miles for the event. Attired in a brown taffeta over a tangerine gown, the regal Anderson immediately captured the attention of the integrated crowd of 3,500.
Anderson’s concert, accompanied by pianist Franz Rupp, was true to form with four selections from Schubert sung in English followed by compositions from Handel sung in German. Her voice reached its full, powerful range with “O Mio Fernando” just prior to intermission. The second half of the concert concluded with a selection of spirituals, including “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands,” “Oh Lord Have Mercy on Me” and “At the Feet of Jesus.”
At the conclusion, the audience roared its approval, demanding and receiving three encores. Her last encore was Ave Maria. N. A. Turkheimer’s review of Anderson’s concert appeared in the Roanoke Times the following day. “Miss Marian Anderson showed Roanoke last night why her contralto voice is one of the most cherished instruments in American music…she took the breath away from her audience with amazing demonstrations of voice range.” The audience, wrote Turkhemer, “left with awed devotion.”
The following day, Anderson was given a reception by the Beta Chi Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority at the home of Mrs. Leittia Penn on Madison Avenue. The home was decorated in the sorority’s colors using pink snapdragons, sweet peas and roses. A formal receiving line allowed the guests to be introduced to Anderson by Miss Eunice Poindexter assisted by the chapter’s Patronesses Club. Anderson had stayed overnight in the home of Mrs. L. C. Downing.
After her concert in Roanoke, Anderson continued to entertain audiences around the world before retiring in 1965. She became the first Black woman to sing with the Metropolitan Opera when, in 1955, she was in the cast of a Verdi opera. She performed at the inaugurations of Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John Kennedy in 1957 and 1961, respectively, and was the recipient of numerous awards including a Congressional Gold Medal, a Kennedy Center Honoree, Grammy Award, and a George Peabody Medal. Her Lincoln Memorial concert and performance at the March on Washington in 1963 secured her place in America’s Civil Rights struggle.
On a spring night in 1950, however, Anderson lifted her voice in Roanoke thanks to the efforts of a Presbyterian minister and his congregation. Those in attendance had the privilege of hearing in person what the famed Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini described when he said “a voice like hers only comes along once in a hundred years.”
The story above is from our May/June 2023 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!