{"id":3480,"date":"2018-05-01T02:16:54","date_gmt":"2018-05-01T07:16:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=3480"},"modified":"2018-05-05T00:40:43","modified_gmt":"2018-05-05T05:40:43","slug":"marian-anderson-and-double-consciousness-why-did-marian-anderson-not-consider-herself-an-activist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2018\/05\/01\/marian-anderson-and-double-consciousness-why-did-marian-anderson-not-consider-herself-an-activist\/","title":{"rendered":"Marian Anderson and Double Consciousness: Why did Marian Anderson not consider herself an activist?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_3482\" style=\"width: 248px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2018\/05\/Marian-Anderson-2-e1525158097880.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3482\" class=\"wp-image-3482 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2018\/05\/Marian-Anderson-2-e1525158097880-238x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"238\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2018\/05\/Marian-Anderson-2-e1525158097880-238x300.png 238w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2018\/05\/Marian-Anderson-2-e1525158097880-119x150.png 119w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2018\/05\/Marian-Anderson-2-e1525158097880.png 381w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 238px) 100vw, 238px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3482\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marian Anderson (1897-1993)<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After hearing Carol Oja give a lecture on Marian Anderson, a black woman and arguably one of the greatest opera singers of the 20th century, one thing that stood out to me is that Marian Anderson did not consider herself an activist. It is easy to question Marian Anderson\u2019s hesitancy in this description of herself, especially from a contemporary standpoint when celebrity political activism is not so taboo. After all, Marian Anderson\u2019s time of popularity was during the pre-civil rights era. She was still a black singer in an overtly racist society, and this placed limitations on her. Despite the overwhelmingly white field of opera and classical music, she gained popularity among greater American society. She had great vocal talent, but her \u201cpalatable\u201d performances and public presentation of self likely contributed to her success as a black singer in a racist society. She appealed to common western society through things such as her western vocal training, western repertoire (although she did sing spirituals along with European repertoire), and western dress. This is not to say she did all of these things purposely to appeal to a greater, white audience. She was also extremely popular among black communities, and her pure vocal talent leading to much of her success cannot be denied. This point is also not implying that appealing to these traditionally western ways was necessarily against her nature. However, as one of the first famous black opera singers, her appeal to white, \u201ctraditional\u201d opera culture likely aided her popularity gain on such a mass scale.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"584\" height=\"329\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mAONYTMf2pk?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although Marian Anderson in many ways appealed to white operatic tradition, she also acted in a variety of ways to show resistance against the racism present in her life as a vocalist. She had performance contracts that prohibited segregated audiences, gave her famous Easter concert at the Lincoln Memorial (video clip shown above) in response to the DAR denying her performance at the Constitution Hall, and was the first black singer to debut with the Met. Marian Anderson&#8217;s impact on the Civil Rights movement was indeed significant. <a href=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2018\/05\/pl_005052018_0129_23861_857.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3521 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2018\/05\/pl_005052018_0129_23861_857-300x197.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"197\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2018\/05\/pl_005052018_0129_23861_857-300x197.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2018\/05\/pl_005052018_0129_23861_857-150x99.jpg 150w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2018\/05\/pl_005052018_0129_23861_857-768x505.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2018\/05\/pl_005052018_0129_23861_857-1024x673.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2018\/05\/pl_005052018_0129_23861_857-457x300.jpg 457w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>The newspaper clipping on the right, published in 1991, discusses the struggle for equality for black people over the past 200 years, and mentions Marian Anderson in the fourth full paragraph in the far right column. The impact Anderson&#8217;s Lincoln Memorial performance had in &#8220;reactivating the NAACP in Washington&#8221; is acknowledged, thus emphasizing her important role in the Civil Rights movement as a whole.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0Some may question Anderson\u2019s denial of an activist label, and even criticize her for not going \u201call the way\u201d in terms of her activism. Although Anderson\u2019s true motivations behind this statement cannot be clear, one can give her the benefit of the doubt when appealing to Du Bois\u2019 idea of \u201cdouble consciousness.\u201d W. E. B. Du Bois coined the term \u201cdouble consciousness\u201d as a phenomenon in which a person\u2019s conception of self manifests under conditions of racialization. Thus, there are different types of self formation depending on one\u2019s racial group and societal context. Du Bois argues that the \u201cself\u201d develops from others\u2019 conceptions of us. For black people and other people of color, Du Bois believes a sense of \u201ctwo-ness\u201d forms due to their dual positions: one in the \u201cdominant community that denies their humanity and [one in] their own community which is a source of support and an arena of agency\u201d (<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Itzigsohn<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">). There is constant tension between these two versions of the self that is manifested within people of color living in a racist society. <\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3481\" style=\"width: 182px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2018\/05\/marian-anderson.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3481\" class=\"wp-image-3481\" src=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2018\/05\/marian-anderson.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"172\" height=\"212\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3481\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marian Anderson Singing at the Lincoln Memorial<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Marian Anderson\u2019s double consciousness manifests as her \u201cself\u201d that had to survive as a black singer in a white society and her \u201cself\u201d that was a black woman outside of a white context. It is possible that Marian Anderson resisted the label of activist because of tension between her two selves. She lived in a racist society and likely would have been criticized even more than she already was if she had been more explicit about her activism. At the same time, she acted in ways to resist the racism within society, as mentioned earlier. Double consciousness and tension of the two selves may not have been at the root of Anderson not considering herself an activist. However, it is important to note that Marian Anderson\u2019s lived experiences likely shaped her perception of self and the way she acted as a public figure nonetheless.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sources:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;Black History Month Special.&#8221; <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The National Chronicle, <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">February 22 (1991): <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Database: America&#8217;s Historical Newspapers, SQN: 12BE222679916188.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Feman, Seth. &#8220;Marian Anderson\u2019s Presence.&#8221; <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">American Art<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 28, no. 1 (2014): 104-17.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Itzigsohn, Jos\u00e9, and Karida Brown. &#8220;Sociology and the Theory of Double Consciousness.&#8221; 12, no. 2 (2015): 231-48.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Marian Anderson singing at Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., April 9 before 75,000 persons. Washington D.C, 1939. Print. https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/item\/2009633558\/.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">My Country Tis of Thee. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Performance at Lincoln Memorial. <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Video. Performed by Marian Anderson. 1939. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mAONYTMf2pk.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oja, Carol. \u201cMarian Anderson and the Desegregation of the American Concert Stage.\u201d 2016-2017 Fellows\u2019 Presentation Series at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Cambridge, MA, October 20, 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Van Vechten, Carl. \u201cPortrait of Marian Anderson.\u201d <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Van Vechten Collection. <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jan. 14, 1940. Print. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After hearing Carol Oja give a lecture on Marian Anderson, a black woman and arguably one of the greatest opera singers of the 20th century, one thing that stood out to me is that Marian Anderson did not consider herself &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2018\/05\/01\/marian-anderson-and-double-consciousness-why-did-marian-anderson-not-consider-herself-an-activist\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1588,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[1128,1127,1126,1125,736,393,1129],"class_list":["post-3480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-activist","tag-double-consciousness","tag-du-bois","tag-lincoln-memorial","tag-marian-anderson","tag-opera","tag-w-e-b-du-bois"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jEhR-U8","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1588"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3480"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3522,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3480\/revisions\/3522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}