Lift Every Voice: Marian Anderson, Florence B. Price And The Sound Of Black Sisterhood is an article by Alisha Lola Jones that discusses black women and their tendency to lift their own voices as well as the voices of others in statements of civil rights and womanism. Marian Anderson was a contralto from Philadelphia that dedicated her life to uplifting the voices of black women through the lens of concert performances. She consistently challenged segregated spaces and even brought Negro Spirituals to the mainstage such as “My Soul Is Anchored in the Lord” by Florence B. Price.
Talented singers like Anderson and Price were important because they worked with a political agenda: Jones refers to it as critical patriotism. Anderson and Price’s works were supported by organizations such as the NAACP and the National Association for Negro Musicians, broadening their scope. Anderson and Price’s place in the musical world was a statement itself: declaring to the world that black women could be just as powerful and their voices could be just as smooth as white women’s voices. During the women’s suffrage movement in particular, black women musicians used their talents to advocate for black women’s’ equality and validate the black woman’s identity.
