Sometimes you’re overwhelmed when a thing comes, and you do not realize the magnitude of the affair at that moment. When you get away from it, you wonder, did it really happen to you.
Marian Anderson
Marian Anderson (1902–1993), African American singer. As quoted in I Dream a World, by Brian Lanker (1989).
Anderson was a great contralto singer who wanted, and if not for racism probably would have had, an important operatic career. In 1955, she finally became the first African American soloist to sing at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. Here, she was remembering that experience.
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