​Marian Anderson 
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(February 27, 1897 – April 8, 1993)
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Born in 1897, American contralto Marian Anderson was the first African-American to sing at the Metropolitan Opera (Verdi's "Masked Ball," 1955). Equally gifted in renditions of spirituals and German lieder, Anderson combined her faith, dignity, and gentle spirit with her uniquely beautiful voice. The great conductor Toscanini felt that "hers is a voice that we hear only once in a hundred years."
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When Anderson's scheduled performance at Constitution Hall was not permitted by the Daughters of the American Revolution (which caused Eleanor Roosevelt to resign from the D.A.R.), Anderson sang instead outdoors at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday, 1939 to an audience of 75,000 people. Afterwards she observed, "I could not run away from the situation. I had become, whether I liked it or not, a symbol, representing my people. I had to appear."  

​Patricia Carlson

Finding Amipotence in Sound

What does the wooing, the luring, the beckoning, the invitational power of Amipotence look like? We might also ask, and perhaps better, what does it sound like? Everything depends on context. I think it sounds like the voice of Marian Anderson singing at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday in 1939.

In the world of open and relational theology, we often say that God's only hands are our own. Might we also add that God's only voice is ours as well, especially when it carries beauty, truth, and love into the world? When our voices speak words of compassion, sing songs that heal, or offer the gentle persuasion of hope, they become vessels for the divine, echoing God's call to wholeness and justice.

Marian Anderson’s voice is a profound example of this truth. Her contralto, rich and emotive, carried the persuasive power of beauty, offering a quiet yet irresistible invitation to unity and transformation. In her 1939 Lincoln Memorial performance, she did not shout defiance but sang with grace and dignity, moving hearts and inspiring minds to envision a more inclusive and just world. Her voice, rooted in love and resilience, became a channel for the divine, showing how beauty can transcend barriers and call forth the best in humanity.

If God’s voice is ours, then we are called to use it with care, creativity, and courage. Like Marian Anderson, our voices can embody the gentle power of persuasion, inspiring others and shaping the world toward love, connection, and hope. It is through the collective harmony of our voices—expressing empathy, inviting justice, and celebrating beauty—that God’s presence is most profoundly heard in the world.

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"On Easter Sunday in 1939, more than 75,000 people come to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., to hear famed African-American contralto Marian Anderson give a free open-air concert....Anderson had been scheduled to sing at Washington’s Constitution Hall, but the Daughters of the American Revolution, a political organization that helped manage the concert hall, denied her the right to perform because of her race. The first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, resigned her membership from the organization in protest, and Anderson’s alternate performance at the Lincoln Memorial served greatly to raise awareness of the problem of racial discrimination in America."

NPR Story on Marian Anderson
​singing at the Lincoln Memorial