(audience applauding)

- She was the first
African American

to make her debut at
the Metropolitan Opera.

- She was pursued by
nobility and aristocracy.

She enjoyed the life of a diva.

(Marian Anderson
singing "Ave Maria")

- Marian Anderson was the first

African American artist to
be signed by RCA Victor.

- She was performing
in Europe for

Kings and Queens,

and she would come back
home to her own country

and have to sit at
the back of the train.

- In response, she
stood flat-footed

and she sang.

- Easter Sunday,
April 9th, 1939.

- [Marian Anderson] There
was a multitude such in your

wildest imagination.

- Even though we may not
be able to articulate

why that person's
voice moves us so much

because it's speaking to
so many different parts

of who we are.

That's what her voice had,

this incredible power
in it to stop a nation.

(crowd applauding)