Editing Marian Anderson (section)

== Early Career ==

Anderson's early career combined growing success with constant confrontation with racism. She won a voice competition in 1925 that led to a performance with the New York Philharmonic, yet American concert halls remained largely closed to Black performers. Recognizing that opportunities in the United States were limited by prejudice, Anderson traveled to Europe in 1930, where she found audiences receptive to talent without regard to race. Her European performances earned critical acclaim, with conductor Arturo Toscanini declaring that hers was a voice "heard once in a hundred years."<ref name="anderson"/>

Anderson returned to America in 1935 with a European reputation that commanded attention even from audiences conditioned by segregation. She performed at Town Hall in New York to critical acclaim, initiating a concert career that would make her one of America's most celebrated singers. Her accompanist and manager Sol Hurok booked her throughout the country, navigating the complex arrangements that segregation required—separate hotels, separate dining, separate everything that daily reminded Anderson and her audiences of the barriers that her talent could transcend but not eliminate.<ref name="keiler"/>