Marian Anderson - WIH Mystery Cache
Hidden : 7/14/2018
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:


This is part of the Women in History series begun by Meandmydogs in NH.   The cache is not at the stated coordinates.   You can find the real coordinates by reading a short biography and answering the questions correctly.    All answers can be found in or deduced from the given material.

 

Deemed one of the finest contraltos of her time, Marian Anderson became the first African American to perform with the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1955. Born February 27, 1897, in Philadelphia, Marian Anderson displayed vocal talent as a child, but her family could not afford to pay for formal training. Members of her church congregation raised funds for her to attend a music school for a year, and in 1955 she became the first African American singer to perform as a member of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. She was an acclaimed singer whose performance at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 helped set the stage for the civil rights era,

 

The oldest of three girls, Anderson was just 6 years old when she became a choir member at the Union Baptist Church, where she earned the nickname "Baby Contralto." Her father, a coal and ice dealer, supported his daughter's musical interests and, when Anderson was eight, bought her a piano. With the family unable to afford lessons, the prodigious Anderson taught herself. At the age of 12, Anderson's father died, leaving her mother to raise her three still-young girls. His death, however, did not slow down Anderson's musical ambitions. She remained deeply committed to her church and its choir and rehearsed all the parts (soprano, alto, tenor and bass) in front of her family until she had perfected them. Anderson's commitment to her music and her range as a singer so impressed the rest of her choir that the church banded together and raised enough money, about $500, to pay for Anderson to train under Giuseppe Boghetti, a respected voice teacher.

 

Over her two years of studying with Boghetti, Anderson won a chance to sing at the Lewisohn Stadium in New York after entering a contest organized by the New York Philharmonic Society. Other opportunities soon followed. In 1928, she performed at Carnegie Hall for the first time, and eventually embarked on a tour through Europe thanks to a Julius Rosenwald scholarship. By the late 1930s,

 

Anderson's voice had made her famous on both sides of the Atlantic. In the United States she was invited by President Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor to perform at the White House, the first African American ever to receive this honor.

 

Much of Anderson's life would ultimately see her breaking down barriers for African-American performers. In 1955, for example, the gifted contralto singer became the first African American to perform as a member of the New York Metropolitan Opera. Despite Anderson's success, not all of America was ready to receive her talent. In 1939 her manager tried to set up a performance for her at Washington, D.C.'s Constitution Hall. But the owners of the hall, the Daughters of the American Revolution informed Anderson and her manager that no dates were available. That was far from the truth. The real reason for turning Anderson away lay in a policy put in place by the D.A.R. that committed the hall to being a place strictly for white performers.

 

When word leaked out to the public about what had happened, an uproar ensued, led in part by Eleanor Roosevelt, who invited Anderson to perform instead at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday. In front of a crowd of more than 75,000, Anderson offered up a riveting performance that was broadcast live for millions of radio listeners.

 

Over the next several decades of her life, Anderson's stature only grew. In 1961 she performed the national anthem at President John F. Kennedy's inauguration. Two years later, Kennedy honored the singer with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. After retiring from performing in 1965, Anderson set up her life on her farm in Connecticut. In 1991, the music world honored her with a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement. Her final years were spent in Portland, Oregon, where she'd moved in with her nephew. She died there of natural causes on April 8, 1993.

 

 

HERE IS THE QUIZ. The cache can be found at the following coordinates: N 44 7.ABC W 072 DE.5F1

 

A. Marian Anderson was the first African American soprano to perform as a member of the Metropolitan Opera.

 True = 8

 False = 6

 

B. Marian Anderson was presented with the Congressional Medal of Honor by JFK.

True = 9

False = 1

 

C. When the DAR refused to allow Marian Anderson to sing in Constitution Hall, Eleanor Roosevelt helped to arrange to have her sing at the Lincoln Memorial, in a performance that was broadcast to millions over the radio.

  True = 9

False = 3

DE. Marian Anderson was born in the year DE97.

 

F. Marian Anderson received a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys in 1991.

True = 0

False = 9

 

You may contribute to the Women in History series. Please use WIH as part of the title. Congrats to mwein for FTF!

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Cvyy obggyr

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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