The Voice that Challenged a Nation by Russell Freedman

Warm up Questions:

1. Have you ever had a pet? What was your first impression of your new pet, and

how did you build a bond with them?

The Voice that Challenged a Nation by Russell Freedman

INTRODUCTION

With a voice "heard only once in a hundred years," contralto Marian Anderson’s vocal
range spanned from low baritone to high soprano. She bridged other divides as well.
The first African American to join the New York Metropolitan Opera, Anderson sang
at the presidential inaugurations of Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy,
served as a delegate to the United Nations, and received numerous accolades, including
the Presidential Medal of Freedom and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award. Her
gift was evident early on, as seen in this excerpt. Anderson's vocal range spanned from
low baritone to high soprano.

Excerpt from Chapter Two: Twenty-Five Cents a Song

1 While she dreamed of a singing career, [Marian] knew she would have to support herself
and help her family when she finished school, so she took the high school's secretarial
course, studying bookkeeping, shorthand, and typing. But her heart wasn't in those studies,
and after three unhappy years she was able to transfer to the newly established South
Philadelphia High School for Girls, where she enrolled in an academic course, emphasizing
music. Several years older than any of the other girls, she was one of the school's few black
students. Her classmates would remember her as a shy and often self-conscious young
woman who kept to herself and concentrated on her musical studies. She was "interested in
pretty much nothing else but singing," one student recalled, "not taking part in dances or
things like that."

2 During her high school years, Marian continued to sing at church and social events and,
increasingly, at concerts out of town. In 1917, just before Christmas, she was invited to take
part in a gala concert at the Georgia State Industrial College, a black college in Savannah.
She had never visited the Deep South before, and on this trip, for the first time, she
experienced the strict "Jim Crow" laws that enforced racial segregation throughout the
South.

3 She traveled with her mother from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., where they had to
change trains to continue south. At Washington's Union Station black and white passengers
were separated. The Andersons' bags were taken to the first coach on the train headed south-
the Jim Crow coach reserved for blacks. As Marian recalled, the car was dirty inside and out,
the windows were badly in need of washing, and the ventilation and lighting were poor.
When the air became stuffy and the windows were raised, smoke and soot from the engine
directly ahead poured into the car. "I had heard about Jim Crow," Marian wrote later, "but
meeting it bit deeply into the soul ...

I had looked closely at my people in that train. Some seemed to be embarrassed to the core.
Others appeared to accept the situation as if it were beyond repair."

4 Arriving in Savannah after an overnight trip, Marian and her mother were greeted warmly
by school officials and were put up at the home of the college president. That evening an
audience of nearly a thousand people turned out for the concert in Savannah's new Municipal
Auditorium, whites sitting in the boxes and dress circle, blacks in segregated orchestra or
gallery seats. "[Marian] Anderson, the soloist, has one of the most remarkable voices ever

heard in Savannah," reported the Savannah Morning News.

5 By now she was receiving so many invitations that she had trouble keeping up with her
high school studies. Roland Hayes invited her to sing on some of his own programs. She
traveled to Tennessee, where she gave a week of concerts at black churches and colleges.
And she won a scholarship to take a six-week summer course at the Chicago Conservatory of
Music.

6 In Wilmington, Delaware, at a reception following a concert, she was introduced to a tall

young man named Orpheus Fisher, who, like her, was still in high school. He fell for the shy
singer with the soft laughter and huge sparkling eyes who was almost as tall as he, and
Marian, as she later admitted, was attracted to Orpheus. They saw a good deal of each other.
It wasn't long before Orpheus suggested that they run away and get married. But Marian,
determined to build a career, wasn't interested in discussing marriage. "I was busy with the
beginnings of my concert life," she said later, "and I thought there was no great hurry."
Orpheus persisted, and in the years that followed he kept in touch with Marian as she
traveled around the world. He never gave up hope that one day he would persuade her to
marry him.

7 Meanwhile, the principal of Marian's high school, Dr. Lucy Langdon Wilson, had been
following the young singer's progress with great interest. Convinced that Marian had a great
future ahead of her, Wilson helped arrange an audition with Giuseppe Boghetti, a well-
known voice coach who had studios in both Philadelphia and New York. Boghetti was short,
stocky, and dynamic, a demanding teacher with a vast store of knowledge about vocal
technique and a stern manner with his students. More than once students had been seen
leaving his studio in tears. He insisted at first that he was much too busy to see Marian. He
wanted no new students, he said. But finally, as a favor, he agreed to hear her sing one song.

8 Marian was so nervous when she arrived at Boghetti's studio that she sang her single song,
"Deep River," without once looking at him. When she finished, Boghetti seemed stunned.
Finally, he turned to her. "I will make room for you right away," he said, "and I will need
only two years with you. After that, you will be able to go anywhere and sing for anybody."
9 Again there was no money for lessons. Most of Marian's earnings from concert ppearances
went to her mother, who was still taking in laundry and scrubbing floors, and to her sisters,
who were still in school. And again the congregation at Union Baptist Church came to
Marian's aid, organizing a benefit concert that raised $566 so that she could study with
Boghetti. Despite his prediction, he would remain her voice teacher for many years to come.

Vocabulary and their definition:

1. Self-Conscious: To be aware and concerned about yourself.

2. Enforce: To compel or ensure following of rules, laws, or standards.
3. Segregation: The act of separating or setting apart groups based on certain characteristics.
4. Ventilation: The process of providing fresh air or circulation, typically in enclosed spaces.
5. Soot: Fine black particles, produced by incomplete combustion of organic matter.
6. Remarkable: Worthy of attention or unusually good, standing out in a positive way.
7. Scholarship: Financial aid or recognition given to support academic study or achievement.
8. To fall for: To be deceived or misled by someone, often in a romantic context.
9. Persist: To continue firmly in a course of action despite opposition or difficulties.
10. Dynamic: Characterized by constant change, activity, or progress.
11. Scrub: To clean or rub with effort, often to remove dirt or impurities.

Questions and Analysis:

1.Refer to information in paragraph 3 to support your understanding of why the train trip
from Washington, D.C., to Savannah, Georgia, was difficult for Marian Anderson and her
mother. Cite textual evidence that is directly stated or that you have inferred from clues in
the text.

2. Use details from the text to write several sentences describing the different ways that
people respond to Marian Anderson's singing.

3. Write five sentences describing the type of person that Marian Anderson was in her
teenage years. Support your answer with textual evidence.
4. Use context to define "Jim Crow" laws, as the term is used in paragraphs 2 and 3 of The
Voice That Challenged a Nation. Write your definition of "Jim Crow' laws" and tell how you
determined the meaning of this domain-specific term.

5. Remembering that the Latin prefix "per" means "throughout," the Latin root "sistere"
means "to stand firm," and the -ed ending signals a regular past-tense verb, use the context
clues provided in the passage to determine the meaning of the word persisted in paragraph 6
of The Voice That Challenged a Nation. Write your definition of "persisted" and tell how
you figured out themeaning of the word. Then verify your inferred meaning in a print or
digital dictionary.

Your Turn - Comprehension Questions:

1. In paragraph 1, the author mentions that Marian was "one of the school's few black
students." Why is this information important for the reader to know? How might it
affect the ordering of events and ideas in the text? Highlight evidence from the text
and make annotations to explain your choices.
2. Think about the title of the biography from which the excerpt is taken: The Voice That
Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights. How do the
events the author describes in this excerpt connect with the title and with other events
introduced in the text? What kinds of events might the author present in later chapters
of the book? Support your inferences with textual evidence and make annotations to
explain your response.
3. The opening paragraph cites information from Anderson's high-school classmates who
describe her as being "shy and often self- conscious." Later, paragraph 7 describes
Giuseppe Boghetti, her voice coach, as "dynamic." How are these points about their
personality traits introduced and developed in the text? What connections might
readers be able to draw between them? How might Boghetti's dynamic personality
 influence Marian when she takes voice lessons from him? Highlight your textual
evidence and make annotations to defend and support your answer.

4. In paragraph 8, the author includes the detail that Boghetti "seemed stunned" after he
heard Marian sing. Why is this an important detail to include? What is the impact of the
specific choice of the word "stunned"? How would a word with a similar denotation but with
less of a connotative meaning, such as "surprised," have had less impact on the meaning of
this part of the text? Highlight evidence from the text and make annotations to support your
explanation.

5. In paragraph 6, referring to Orpheus's marriage proposal, Anderson comments, "'I was

busy with the beginnings of my concert life ... and l thought there was no great hurry."" How
does this quoted statement and other events cited and hinted at in the excerpt relate to the
question: "What makes a dream worth pursuing"? Highlight textual evidence and make
annotations to explain your ideas.