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Freedman, R. (2004). The
Voice that Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle
for Equal Rights. New York: Clarion Books.
Newbery Honor, Robert F Sibert Medal
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Marian Anderson’s life strongly impacted the
world of singing, politics, and racial equality in the twentieth
century. Both Pam Muñoz Ryan in When Marian Sang and Russell
Freedman in The Voice that Challenged a Nation have presented
her life in different but equally powerful ways.
 Freedman,
as is his pattern, draws upon a number of first-hand documents,
including photographs, letters, newspaper headlines and stories,
performance programs, and interviews. His use of these documents is
a model for young readers to do the same. When Freedman was awarded
the Robert F. Sibert medal for The Voice that Challenged a Nation,
Kathleen Isaacs recognized that “with profound respect for his
subject and his reader’s intelligence” he “has elegantly constructed
a compelling narrative enhanced by exemplary documentation and
powerful, well-chosen photographs.” This is an excellent
description of first-hand documented biography.
The first photograph in Freedman’s book is of
Anderson in 1898 at age one, with no hint that this was a person who
would perform before royalty in Europe
and at the U.S. White House for Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. He
describes the world in which she grew up, one that was segregated
and that required she use separate facilities at train stations and
provided few hotel possibilities. But she also accomplished many
firsts. She was “the first black concert artist to record Negro
spirituals for a major American recording company, the Victor
Talking Machine Company.” She was the “first black vocalist to
appear as a soloist with the Philharmonic Society at Philadelphia’s
prestigious Academy of Music.” And she was the first black artist
to sing at the Metropolitan Opera. The sense of history attached to
Marian Anderson is a model for young readers to understand the need
to research the person or event they would place in a story.
Marian Anderson’s famous recital at the Lincoln
Memorial on Easter Sunday 1939, to an audience of 75,000, followed
much furor after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to
rent Constitution Hall for this purpose. In the process, Eleanor
Roosevelt very publicly resigned from the DAR in her nationally
syndicated newspaper column, and worked with her husband to ensure
that Marian would sing publicly to a large and integrated crowd.
Franklin Roosevelt is quoted as stating, “I don’t care if she sings
from the top of the Washington Monument, as long as she sings.”
This is an important event and one about which many resources exist.
Pam Muñoz Ryan and Brian Selznick in When
Marian Sang also present the life of Marian Anderson for younger
readers in a unique way that matches text and illustrations to her
life. Playing on Anderson’s role as a vocal performer, the book’s
opening pages appear to be a musical program in which Scholastic
Press presents, for its “Season of Two Thousand and Two” this story
of the “True Recital” of Marian Anderson, with the “Libretto” or
story by Pam Muñoz Ryan and the staging or decorations by Brian
Selznick. As the story is told, words from many of the songs so
often associated with Anderson are printed in the text.
Ryan also describes at length Anderson’s
recital at the Lincoln Memorial, and Selznick’s illustrations show
very clearly in individual faces the diversity present in her
audience on that special day. This has clearly been a presentation
of the “True Recital” of Marian Anderson’s entire life—one that
brought social and political change as well as much beauty to the
world. Because this is a book for younger readers does not mean
that it was not based on serious research and reliance on authentic
texts. In the “Encore” or Afterward of the book, the reader is
directed to some of these texts. At
http://www.nara.gov/exhall/originals/eleanor.html is Eleanor
Roosevelt’s actual letter of resignation from the DAR. The Marian
Anderson Historical Society’s website, which provides much factual
information about her life can be found at
http://www.mariananderson.org. The University of Pennsylvania
Library maintains a virtual exhibition about Marian Anderson at
http://www.library.upenn.edu/special/gallery/anderson.org. Both
author and illustrator explain their very personal reasons for
wanting to create this book, and they include notable dates in
Anderson’s life and provide a “Selected Discography” as did Russell
Freedman. Live Oak Media has released a CD of When Marian Sang
on which Gail Nelson reads the text and sings some of the songs
made famous by Anderson, the text of which are included in the book
as part of the “true recital.”
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Active Reading/Learning Strategies:
Literary
Comparison of The
Voice that Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle
for Equal Rights and When Marian Sang: The True Recital of
Marian Anderson—The Voice of a Century
Writing in Response to Reading:
The Voice that Challenged
a Nation – Written Response Activity
Each of the eight chapters of The Voice that
Challenged a Nation begins with an actual quote from Marian
Anderson. As you read the book, determine why you think Russell
Freedman chose the particular quote used. Explain your decision as
well as the impact you think those words held for Anderson herself
and as an introduction to the chapter.
Russell Freedman has used photographs of Marian
Anderson, her family, and her colleagues in his book. He has also
used reproductions of programs from her recitals and newspaper
articles about her. What impact do you think these authentic
documents about Anderson have on your understanding and appreciation
of her life? How would this book have been different without these
authentic documents?
The photograph of the crowds in front of the
Lincoln Memorial, when Marian Anderson gave her famous recital,
provides a sense of the immense numbers present. How would you have
felt if you were faced with such an enormous crowd and had to speak?
Marian Anderson sang two more times at the
Lincoln Memorial. What was the occasion of those two times.
At the conclusion of the final chapter,
Freedman defines Anderson’s overall modesty about her
accomplishments through a long quote that concludes with the words,
“if my career has been of some consequence, then that’s my
contribution.” How would you define the contributions of Marian
Anderson’s career and life?
Identify at least five major color barriers
broken by Marian Anderson—times when she was the first black woman
to accomplish something or selected for a particular honor.
On-Line Resources:
Read Write Think
http://www.readwritethink.org/calendar/calendar_day.asp?id=471
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