“LET FREEDOM RING”: Museum Tour with the Marian Anderson Historical Society
August 7, 2026
Historic photograph of Marian Anderson in 1943 singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Courtesy of the U.S. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
Location: Marian Anderson Museum, Philadelphia, PA
5 PM
It was Marian Anderson’s groundbreaking 1939 performance of “America (My Country ’Tis of Thee)” at the Lincoln Memorial — after she was barred from performing at Constitution Hall because of her race — that directly inspired artist Paul Ramírez Jonas in creating Let Freedom Ring, an interactive sculpture presented by the Association for Public Art and now on view at Cherry Street Pier.
Join us for a tour at the Marian Anderson Museum and Historic Home in Philadelphia that will illuminate the story of the famed singer and civil rights trailblazer, her upbringing in Philadelphia, and her performance of “America (My Country ’Tis of Thee).”
The tour will be led by Jillian Pirtle, stage and opera artist and CEO of the Marian Anderson Historical Society, and the youngest steward of a National Historic Landmark site in the United States.