Throughout her career, American contralto Marian Anderson performed a repertoire well ahead of her time.

At a time when the dominant art form was anti-Black minstrelsy, famed contralto Marian Anderson made a name for herself performing classical music. Host Kai Wright is joined by WQXR’s Terrance McKnight to discuss Anderson’s legacy, and her journey to global music stardom.

Companion listening for this episode:

Billy Porter on Bringing Blackness, Queerness and Fullness to Art (12/19/2022)

What does a next level victory look like for an Emmy, Grammy and Tony winner? For actor Billy Porter - it’s an authentic sense of self.

“Notes from America” airs live on Sunday evenings at 6pm ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts. To catch all the action, tune into the show on Sunday nights via the stream on notesfromamerica.org or on WNYC’s YouTube channel.

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Notes from America airs live on Sundays at 6 p.m. ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts.

How Singer Marian Anderson Dominated the Global Stage

Notes from America with Kai Wright