Marian Anderson
Marian Anderson (1897, Philadelphia - 1993, Portland, Oregon) was an African-American contralto.
She made her debut in London in 1930. She was mainly a concert singer, but made occasional appearances in opera. In 1955 she became the first ever black singer at the New York Metropolitan Opera (as Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera).
She sang at the Inauguration of Dwight David Eisenhower (who sent her as a delegate to the United Nations in 1958) and the Inauguration Ball of John Kennedy.