Penn Museum to spotlight opera singer Marian Anderson in honor of Black History Month

The Penn Museum will honor 20th-century civil rights figure and opera singer Marian Anderson in celebration of Black History Month.

Throughout the month of February, a range of new public programs and exhibitions will commemorate Marian Anderson — a Philadelphia native famous for her contralto — for her artistry and role in the civil rights movement.

As a part of the ongoing “The Stories We Wear” exhibition, the Penn Museum will showcase a merlot gown worn by Anderson, on loan from the National Marian Anderson Museum and Historical Society. 

On Feb. 23 at 1 p.m., the Penn Museum will host a “Daily Dig” pop-up talk that will focus on Anderson’s gown in “The Stories We Wear” collection,  Public Relations Director of the Penn Museum Jill DiSanto wrote in an email to the Daily Pennsylvanian. Admission is free with a PennCard.

According to DiSanto, the gown was sewn in the 1930s by Zelda Barbour Wynn Valdes, a Black fashion designer who dressed the likes of jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald and entertainer Josephine Baker.

To explore Anderson’s legacy in her own words, the Penn Museum’s virtual book club — “Between the Lines” – will be reading Anderson’s autobiography, “My Lord, What a Morning: An Autobiography." 

The book describes Anderson's struggles growing up in South Philadelphia as well as the racial discrimination she faced before becoming an internationally recognized star. The first meeting of the book club will be held on Feb. 7 at 6 p.m.

Jillian Patricia Pirtle — the CEO of the National Marian Anderson Museum & Historical Society — will also be performing a concert called “The Letters," which will feature a dramatic reading of the 70-year correspondence of Anderson and her husband along with music in the Penn Museum’s Harrison Auditorium on Feb. 13 at 4 p.m.

“Little is known in the public eye about Marian Anderson’s decades-long romance with her beloved husband, Orpheus ‘King’ Fisher,” Pirtle said in a Penn Museum press release. “We are delighted that we can continue to share this aspect of Marian Anderson’s life and story with this beautiful and dramatic presentation of their rare and sacred love letters.”

Anderson — born in Philadelphia in 1897 — began singing at the age of six and applied for the Philadelphia Music Academy after graduating high school, but was rejected because she was Black. She found success in Europe in the early 1930s, and returned to America as a star, according to the Marian Anderson Historical Society.

In 1939, Anderson attempted to rent performance space from the Daughters of the American Revolution in Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., but was denied because of her race. 

This incident sparked national outrage, prompting First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to organize an open-air concert at the Lincoln Memorial for Anderson on Easter Sunday. Anderson sang before an audience of 75,000 people and millions of radio listeners. 

In 1955, Anderson made history again after becoming the first Black woman to sing with the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Anderson died in 1993 at the age of 96, and Feb. 27 will mark what would have been her 125th birthday.

“Anderson’s legacy is even more relevant and paramount in our nation’s current state,” Pirtle said in the press release.