Sigma Alpha Iota

PAN PIPES • SUMMER 2016 • sai-national.org 8 C D E H I J K N O P T U SAI Honorary Member to Grace U.S. Currency Eleanor Roosevelt and Marian Anderson in May 1953. SAIS IN THE NEWS In April, Treasury Secretary Jacob L. Lew announced that SAI Honorary Member Marian Anderson would be depicted on the redesigned five-dollar bill. While President Abraham Lincoln will remain on the front of the bill, the reverse will feature historic events that occurred at the Lincoln Memorial and include images of Marian Anderson, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Anderson's inclusion notes her 1939 performance before the memorial in front of 75,000 people with the support of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. "is process has been much bigger than one square inch on one bill, and along the way, we heard about countless individuals who contributed to our democracy," Treasury Secretary Jacob L. Lew said in April. "Of course, more work remains to tell the rich and textured history of our country. But with this decision, our currency will now tell more of our story and reflect the contributions of women as well as men to our great democracy." e new currency designs will be unveiled in 2020 and go into currency during the next decade, starting with the $10. Marian Anderson was born in Philadelphia in 1897 and, after studying with professional teachers paid for by members of her community, went to Europe in 1927 to study and perform. American producer Sol Hurok heard her sing in Paris and brought her back to America in 1935, where he presented her at Town Hall in New York City. She was hailed by a New York Times critic as "one of the great singers of our time." She was the first black singer to appear on the stage of New York's Metropolitan Opera, singing the role of the sorceress Ulrica in Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera in January 1955. Many African-American operatic and concert singers, including Honorary Member Leontyne Price (initiated by Alpha Omicron in 1958) and Member Laureate Jessye Norman (initiated as an undergraduate by Delta Nu, Howard University in 1965 and initiated as a Member Laureate by the Washington, D.C. Alumnae, 1975), have credited Marian Anderson as their inspiration to seek professional vocal careers. Anderson was initiated into SAI as an Honorary Member in 1956 by the Lambda Chapter at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. "Meeting her was one of those musical lifetime experiences. She was just lovely, so complimentary, a gracious, wonderful lady, who looked you right in the eye and spoke to you. She asked us about our careers and our plans," recalled Una Redwine, Orland Alumnae Chapter member, in 2005. Anderson sang for the inaugurations of Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy. Although she achieved great success in the operatic field, she may well be best remembered for her stirring renditions of spirituals like "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" and "My Lord, What a Morning," which she used as the title of her autobiography published in 1956.

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