Marian Anderson and Lois Gilmore Smith

"Peggy" Gilmore Smith - Flowers for Marian Anderson

This photograph, from about 1946, depicts Lois (Peggy) Ann Gilmore Smith, presenting flowers to the singer Marian Anderson (1897-1993) at Cumberland's Queen City Railroad Station. Marian Anderson was in Cumberland to present a concert at Fort Hill High School. Lois (Peggy) was the president of the student council at Carver High School at the time, and it was the Carver Student Council that sponsored the performance. Peggy went on to Bowie State Teachers College and eventually became an assistant principal in the Baltimore County Public School System. She passed away in 1985. Also depicted is Carver High School teacher Charles Watermann, who later went on to teach at Allegany High School.

According to Cumberland's First Presbyterian Church "History Notes", following the concert Marian Anderson was refused overnight accommodations at the city's hotels. She accepted the invitation of First Presbyterian's pastor, the Reverend and Mrs. William A. Eisenberger, who despite the concerns raised by a few church members, offered Ms. Anderson the hospitality of their home following the concert.

Also depicted here is the program cover for the concert Marian Anderson gave at Fort Hill High School Auditorium on Thursday, October 31, 1946. Ms. Anderson appeared here in Cumberland under the auspices of the “Carver School Teachers and Pupils” who cooperated in securing her visit. The program is over twenty pages in length and features dozens of advertisements from local businesses

In 1939, Marian Anderson was refused permission to present a concert in Washington DC's Constitution Hall which was owned by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). The concert hall was restricted to, "white artists only". This caused a great deal of outrage and made headlines worldwide. On April 9, Easter Sunday 1939, Marian Anderson gave an historic free concert before 75,000 people and radio listeners on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.