Stories From The UN Archive: Marian Anderson Broke Barriers With Music And Diplomacy

By Eileen Travers
4 February 2025

Battling extensive racial prejudice, she broke many barriers, including as the first African American to perform with the Metropolitan Opera.

UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld hailed her contributions to art and diplomacy, which live on in her legacy as an inspiration for generations to come.

Operatic hommage to human rights

A distinguished alto, Ms. Andersen was a major presence on the diplomatic scene, including the 1950 commemoration held at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House for the second anniversary of the landmark UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Following her epic performance, she shared an A-list table, as shown in the archive photo below, with (from right to left) head of International Business Machines (IBM) Thomas Watson, former UN first lady and chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights Eleanor Roosevelt, General Assembly President Nasrollah Entezam, UN Secretary-General Trygve Lie and Jeannette Kittredge Watson.

Cold war collaboration

A staple in the UN conference rooms and at commemorations, Ms. Anderson joined Ezio Pinza, Danny Kaye and other stars in 1953 during UN Day celebrations. Watch that performance here.

Again in 1976, the US ambassador took the stage in the iconic General Assembly Hall at the UN’s 31st birthday celebration, appearing alongside the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington DC, under the direction of Antal Dorati.

Ms. Anderson was one of two soloists. She was the narrator in Aaron Copland’s composition Lincoln Portrait, and Lazar Berman, the Soviet pianist, performed Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto.

Stories from the UN Archive

UN News is showcasing epic moments across UN history, cultivated from the UN Audiovisual Library’s 49,400 hours of video and 18,000 hours of audio recordings.

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