HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 93-4648, by Representatives J. Kohl, Miller, Wineberry, Basich, G. Cole, Patterson, Heavey, Riley, Flemming, Locke, Brough, Foreman, Wood, Thomas and Anderson

            WHEREAS, Opera singer Marian Anderson was born in Philadelphia on February 27, 1897, and died at the age of 96 in Portland on April 8, 1993; and

            WHEREAS, Marian Anderson's father was an ice and coal dealer who operated a small liquor business and her mother was forced to scrub floors when her teaching certificate was destroyed in a fire; and

            WHEREAS, Marian Anderson began singing at the age of six in a Baptist Church whose members later helped pay for formal voice lessons; and

            WHEREAS, Marian Anderson was spurned by the Philadelphia School of Music because she was an African American, even though she had already won audiences in Europe; and

            WHEREAS, The Daughters of the American Revolution banned Marian Anderson from performing in Constitution Hall in 1939, prompting Eleanor Roosevelt to quit the club and arrange for a concert at the Lincoln Memorial; and

            WHEREAS, Marian Anderson mesmerized over seventy-five thousand Americans of all colors by singing "My Country Tis of Thee" and spirituals on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on a cold Easter Sunday in 1939; and

            WHEREAS, Marian Anderson was the first African American singer to sing in the White House and to sing a leading role at the Metropolitan Opera in New York; and

            WHEREAS, In 1963 President John F. Kennedy awarded Marian Anderson the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor; and

            WHEREAS, Marian Anderson lifted her mother from poverty while changing the impoverished beliefs of racism; and

            WHEREAS, Marian Anderson's glorious voice struck a resounding chord in millions of people and helped lift the soul of a divided nation;

            NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the 53rd Legislature of the State of Washington recognize Marian Anderson as a spiritual beacon whose voice will forever be heard in the heart of our nation.

                                           I hereby certify this to be a true and correct copy of

                                      Resolution 4648 adopted by the House of Representatives

                                                                       April 13, 1993.

                                                    ________________________________

                                                            Alan Thompson, Chief Clerk