Marian Anderson was an American contralto who faced racial prejudice early in her career. She was denied admission to an all-white music school after graduating high school in 1912. However, she continued her singing studies privately and made her debut with the New York Philharmonic in 1925, gaining immediate critical success. Her reputation grew further after touring Europe in the early 1930s, where she did not face the same racial prejudices as in America.