Anight to remember
florence wilmington

it was a night to remember. marian anderson was one my favorite singers. her rendition of the song “were you there” ran through my head as we walked toward the metropolitan opera house. of course, i listened to the radio when she sang at the lincoln memorial in ’39, and hearing her sing “my country ‘tis of thee” brought a tear to my eye. i couldn’t imagine what emotions marian’s voice would stir in me during a live performance. it was january 7, 1955, and my husband and i were going to see the first african american sing at the metropolitan opera.

the opera was verdi’s “the masked ball,” and marian had the role of ulrica, the gypsy fortuneteller. though her character only appears in the first act, her telling predictions are crucial to the plot. in the grand entry, i overheard two women debating marian’s ability to perform. “i know she is a contralto, but some of those soprano notes are just too high,” said one. “maybe she could have done it ten or twenty years ago, but the woman is nearing sixty! ” retorted another. i knew better.

the singer wore an iridescent peasant blouse adorned with several beaded necklaces. the lights illuminated her features from below, creating an aura of mysticism and darkening her expression in shadow. then, marian sang—her range was like nothing i have heard before. when she hit the “a” note, the hairs on my arm stood on end. she held it, and i knew that all doubts about her skill must have melted away with that note. i reached for my husband’s hand; it was all i could do to fight back the tears.

marian’s remarkable life story has always been an inspiration to me. she was born in philadelphia, the oldest of three girls. after her father passed, marian’s mother scrubbed floors and laundered clothes to sustain her family. marian started singing in the union baptist church choir at age six and even taught herself how to play piano. by age thirteen, she was performing in other churches for five dollars a show to the family. her church marian by raising money for her vocal lessons. the philadelphia choral society held a benefit concert to raise the money for marian to study with famous contralto agnes reifsnyder for two years. next thing you know, everything changed. marian was soon singing at new york’s carnegie hall and touring europe to sing for royalty!

in 1939, marian had an atrocious experience with the daughters of the american revolution (d. a. who owned constitutional hall. after several cancellations, it was obvious that the d. a.r. was unsupportive of african american performers. first lady eleanor roosevelt (another hero of mine) resigned from the organization to demonstrate her support for marian. not long after, marian was performing on the stairs of the lincoln memorial before 75,000 citizens. president franklin and eleanor also invited marian to perform for king george vi and queen elizabeth of england. she entertained the troops in both world war ii and the korean war. by the time marian took the stage on that most memorable night, marian had a thousand performances under her belt.

when lights came up after the performance, everything was a blur of velvet and pearls as the applause echoed throughout the hall. during our exit, we passed by the women who had been questioning marian’s abilities before the performance. “she was simply amazing,” stated one. “she’s still got it after all these years! ” exclaimed the other. the power of marian’s astonishing voice had captured their hearts as well as mine.

the singer wore an iridescent peasant blouse adorned with several beaded necklaces. the lights illuminated her features from below, creating an aura of mysticism and darkening her expression in shadow. then, marian sang—her range was like nothing i have heard before. when she hit the “a” note, the hairs on my arm stood on end. she held it, and i knew that all doubts about her skill must have melted away with that note. i reached for my husband’s hand; it was all i could do to fight back the tears.

from the information provided in the selection, what meaning does the author express with the phrase the hairs on my arm stood on end?
a) excitement
b) fright
c) pain
d) surprise