Book Descriptions
for The Voice That Challenged a Nation by Russell Freedman
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
Russell Freedman’s elegant, eloquent portrait of singer Marian Anderson is not a comprehensive biography. Instead, it focuses on two key components of Anderson’s life: her own struggle to become a singer and her role as a symbol in the struggle for African American civil rights. Freedman begins the narrative with an exhilarating description of Anderson’s landmark concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939, then moves back in time to explain how she came to be standing there. Her talent was recognized early on by family and a community that constantly showed its support. But as a young woman, Anderson was not even allowed to apply to a musical conservatory she hoped to attend because of her race. Once her professional performing career began, she had to travel and sing within the strict dictates of a Jim Crow society: train cars, waiting rooms, and audiences were segregated; hotels might not allow her to enter at all. Anderson never stopped striving to improve her art, and early on she knew failure as well as success. Later, she studied abroad to learn the subtleties of the European languages in which she often sang. It was in Europe that her fame took off (although she was already well known among many African Americans in the United States), but worldwide accolades were not enough for the Daughters of the American Revolution to allow her to sing in their Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. That rejection, on the basis of the DAR’s policy against Black performers, led to Eleanor Roosevelt (and others) spearheading the call for the DAR to recant. Anderson was thrust into the limelight in a new way: as a symbol in the fight for equality. It was not a role Anderson was prepared to take on, but she grew to embrace it with dignity and grace. Anderson’s later life is covered briefly in the final chapters of an inspiring and informative volume that includes archival photos, detailed source notes, and a bibliography. (Ages 10–14)
CCBC Choices 2005 . © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2005. Used with permission.
From the Publisher
Marian Anderson Loved to Sing. Her deep, rich voice thrilled audiences the world over. By the mid-1930s she was a famed vocalist who had been applauded by European royalty, welcomed at the White House, and adored by appreciative listeners in concert halls across the United States. But because of her race, she was denied the right to sing at Constitution Hall, Washington's largest and finest auditorium. Though Marian Anderson was not a crusader or a spokesperson by nature, her response to this injustice catapulted her into the center of the civil rights movement of the time. She came to stand for all black artists -- and for all Americans of color -- when, with the help of prominent figures such as Eleanor Roosevelt, she gave a landmark performance on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial that broke racial barriers and hastened the end of segregation in the arts. Drawing on Anderson's own writings and other first-person accounts, Newbery medalist Russell Freedman shows readers a singer pursuing her art in the context of the social and political climate of the day. Profusely illustrated with contemporary photographs, here is an inspiring account of the life of a talented, determined artist who left her mark on musical and social history. Russell Freedman was aware that Marian Anderson was one of the great vocal artists of the 20th century. He hadn't thought of writing a book about her, however, until he found out about the encounter between her and Eleanor Roosevelt that led to the Lincoln Memorial concert and established Anderson as a seminal figure in the civil rights movement. Mr. Freedman is the acclaimed author of more than 40 nonfiction books for young people, He is also the recipient of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for his body of work. Mr. Freedman lives in New York City Book jacket.
Publisher description retrieved from Google Books.