San Antonio College Library

Here, with a splendid richness of color and detail, the distinguished author recreates the personalities and performances, the lives and art of "the great singers" who have left their mark on our musical culture.

Some persons view the belated 1955 debut of Marian Anderson at the Metropolitan Opera as the benchmark for African Americans' entry into the world of grand opera. In fact, many black Americans had produced or performed in opera as early as 1873. Since these classically trained black artists could not perform in the major operatic venues because of racist attitudes toward them, several all-black opera companies founded prior to 1900 provided venues...