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The finale of HONOR!, a Celebration of the African American Cultural Legacy curated by Jessye Norman ended in a program HONOR: The Voice, dedicated to Marian Anderson.

Ms Norman remembers "My very first encounter with Marian Anderson was as a student at Howard University during the time that she was giving her final series of concerts around the world. It was at Constitution Hall, and we were sitting up in heaven, because of course those were the only seats that we could afford. As I waited for her to begin I sat there thinking about the fact that in 1939, Marian Anderson had been denied the privilege of singing on that very stage. I was so moved by that story, especially as we waited eagerly for this majestic presence to come out onto that stage, and we listened, and we watched, and it was rather overpowering.....At this particular moment we're celebrating the contribution of African Americans---like Marian Anderson--to what I consider to be the cultural mosaic of the world. It is happening at a very interesting time, certainly in the history of our country and in the history of the world."

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