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Title
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Letter, Kathleen Brown to Miss Fisher, November 26, 1954
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Description
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A two-page, handwritten letter from music student Kathleen Brown to globally renowned contralto Marian Anderson Fisher (1897-1993). In the letter, Brown describes financial constraints in paying for her tuition at Juilliard School of Music. She asks for Marian Anderson to write a letter to the radio game show “Strike It Rich.”
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This letter is among many from students, aspiring singers and musicians included in the Marian Anderson Papers. Anderson's life was an inspiration to them and to countless others in the United States and abroad (Kruesi 1998).
Very little information was found about Kathleen Brown. A 1956 article in the New York Age Defender newspaper mentions her piano recital at the St. Augustine Presbyterian church (The New York Age Defender 1956).
Marian Anderson was born to Anna Delilah Rucker Anderson and John Berkeley Anderson in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on February 27, 1897. She was the first of three girls all of whom sang. Anderson performed a repertoire that included over 200 songs of many genres including traditional Black spirituals, folk music, and “arias in German, Italian, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Finnish, and other languages” (Kruesi 1998). She performed in the United States, South America, Europe, and Asia. Her career spanned from the 1920s through the 1970s–although she formally retired in 1965 (Kruesi 1998). Anderson’s achievements were numerous and iconic. In 1936, she became the first African American invited to perform at the White House (American Experience and PBS, 2017). In 1955, she was the first African American woman to be invited to sing at the Metropolitan Opera in New York (American Experience and PBS 2017; Brown-Cáceres 2013). At one point, she was the third highest concert box office draw in the United States (American Experience and PBS 2017). In 1963, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon B. Johnson, the Congressional Gold Medal in 1977 during the Carter administration, and bestowed with the Kennedy Center Honors in 1978 (National Archives 2024).
Despite her artistry, popularity, and global impact, the United States subjected Marian Anderson to racial prejudice like all African Americans of her time including the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Constitution Hall incident, which is arguably the most famous of these racist affronts. In 1939, Anderson’s manager tried to secure her performance at Constitution Hall. However, DAR denied her the opportunity because she was Black. In response, Marian Anderson performed a free, open air, integrated, Easter Sunday concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC on April 9, 1939. An estimated 75,000 people attended (Marian Anderson 1939).
Anderson married Orpheus “King” Fisher on July 24, 1943. Between tours, together they lived on their farm near Danbury, Connecticut until his death in 1986. Anderson continued to live on her farm well into her nineties. She spent the last seven years of her life in Portland, Oregon with her nephew, conductor James DePriest, and his wife Ginette (Penn Libraries, n.d.).
She died of congestive heart failure on April 8, 1993.
More information is available in the annotation of the image.
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Rights
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Copyright restrictions may exist. For most library holdings, the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania do not hold copyright. It is the responsibility of the requester to seek permission from the holder of the copyright to reproduce material from the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts.
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Date
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1954-11-26
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Format
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Text
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Language
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eng
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Spatial Coverage
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Bronx, New York
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Contributor
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University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts
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Extent
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2 pages
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Identifier
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Ms. Coll. 200 Box 126
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transcription
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947 East 172 Street
Bronx 60, New York
Nov. 26, 1954
Dear Mrs. Fisher,
I’m a girl 14 years old. I’m studying music at the Juilliard School of Music. My mother finds it very difficult to pay my tuition, she borrowed the money for my first semester and she’s paying it back monthly. Before she gets through paying for that it’ll be time to pay more money for the next semester.
The next semester is $137.50, I’m very worried because I’d like to continue study there very much, but don’t know where the money is coming from.
I’d like to know if you could write a letter to Strike it Rich for me, so I could [ ] go on their pro-gram, and really Strike it Rich. I don’t think you’ll have any trouble getting me on. I’ve tried but I haven’t gotten any where as yet. I’ve written a number of letters not only for music, once I wrote for a piano. They never answered no, but some how thru the help of God I got it.
I go to Music + Art High School also. I’m the pianist at my sunday school which I enjoy very much.
Thanking you in ad-vance.
Kathleen Brown
947 E. 172 Street
Bronx 60, N.Y.
Tele. Ki .2-1958.
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Subject
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African American women singers
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Anderson, Marian, 1897-1993
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Correspondence
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High School of Music and Art (New York, N.Y.)
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Juilliard School of Music
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Letters
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Radio game shows
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Pianists
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Youth, Black
Kathleen Brown to Miss Fisher, p.1.tif 
Kathleen Brown to Miss Fisher, p.2.tif 
