2005 MARIAN ANDERSON ~ CONTRALTO ~ BLACK HERITAGE #3896 Plate Block of 4 x 37 cents US Postage Stamps

On January 27, 2005 in Washington DC; the USPS issued the 28th stamp in the Black Heritage Series. Marian Anderson, an American contralto, is best remembered for her inspiring performance at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., before a crowd of 75,000. That 1939 concert was arranged by Eleanor Roosevelt after the Daughters of the American Revolution barred Anderson from singing in Constitution Hall because of her race. An African-American, Anderson became an important figure in the struggle for black artists to overcome racial prejudice in the United States during the mid twentieth century. Marian Anderson died in 1993 at the age of 96.