Marian Anderson was born on February 27, 1897, in Philadelphia, PA. John and Anna Anderson were Marian’s parents. Her dad was a loader at the Reading Terminal Market. He died in 1912 from an accident at work. Her mom was a teacher. Marian had two younger sisters. Marian showed that she was a great singer as a child, but her family did not have the money to pay for proper training. People in her church raised money for her to go to music school for a year. When Marian was six years old she started singing in the choir at the Union Baptist Church. She received the nickname "The Baby Contralto." When Anderson was eight years old her dad bought her a piano. Her family wasn’t able to pay for lessons so Marian taught herself. At the age of 13 years old, Marian joined the senior choir at church. She started visiting other churches. She grew to be well-known and started accepting invitations to sing. Marian was so popular, she sometimes performed at three different places in one night. Eventually, she received five dollars for each performance. When Marian was 15 she started voice lessons with Mary Saunders Patterson. The Philadelphia Choral Society raised money to give Marian $500.00 so she could study for two years with Agnes Reifsnyder. Marian went to William Penn High School until her music career developed. She switched to South Philadelphia High School where she focused on singing and music. Marian graduated at age 18. She tried to get into a local music school, but was turned away because of her color. Marian's devotion to music made an impression on the rest of her choir. Her church raised around $500, to pay for Marian to learn under Giuseppe Boghetti. She also won a chance to sing at the Lewisohn Stadium in New York from contest controlled by the New York Philharmonic Society.
In 1919, Marian performed at the National Baptist Convention. Marian sang in 1928 at Carnegie Hall for the first time. She later went on tour in Europe thanks to a