Anne Wiggins

Anne Wiggins navigated a difficult path through the segregated music and theater communities of her time to become one of its outstanding soprano singers. She is best known for her performances as Bess in the classic George Gershwin opera of black southern life, Porgy and Bess.

With the encouragement of a Baltimore high society leader, Brown auditioned at New York’s Juilliard School, and became the first Black vocalist to be accepted at the age of 16. After four years of study at Juilliard, she was awarded the Margaret McGill scholarship for the school’s best female singer, and continued with a program of graduate work.

A national tour of Porgy and Bess in the spring of 1936, which went from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh and then to Chicago, ended in Washington, DC. at the segregated National Theatre. The cast, led by Todd Duncan in the role of Porgy, protested, and Brown refused to sing, saying that if her friends, family, and fellow African-Americans were not allowed to hear her, she wouldn’t perform. Theater management relented, and on March 21, Porgy and Bess became the first performance of any type presented to an integrated audience at the National Theatre. Sadly, the segregationist policy was immediately reinstated thereafter.