SISSIERETTA JONES
BIO | In 1892 — more than 60 years before Marian Anderson became the first African American to sing at New York's Metropolitan Opera — Jones broke the color barrier at the Music Hall of New York, later known as Carnegie Hall. And her golden vocal chords weren't just a ticket to Manhattan's center stage. They took her from the Baptist church in Providence where she sang as a child to concert halls in Russia, Italy, England, and France. Today, a plaque hangs in her honor on Pratt Street in Providence.
FUN FACT | Jones performed for four consecutive US presidents: Benjamin Harrison, Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, and Teddy Roosevelt.
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