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Worshippers gathered Sunday at Tindley Temple United Methodist Church to celebrate the legacy of pioneering opera singer and civil rights leader Marian Anderson.

Anderson was a lifelong member of the church on South Broad Street and rose to prominence during an era of American history dominated by Jim Crow laws.

“When we sang, ‘Before I’d be a slave, I’d be buried in my grave,’ we were saying, to the institution, that, ‘You think you know who I am, but I am somebody great,’” said Rev. Carolyn C. Cavaness, of Mother Bethel AME Church, during her sermon.

In the face of racial prejudice, Anderson’s operatic singing abilities broke racial barriers and were celebrated around the world, including a 1939 performance at the Lincoln Memorial that drew a crowd of over 75,000 people. In 1946, she became the first Black person to grace the cover of Time Magazine.

Jillian Pirtle, CEO of the Marian Anderson Museum, said when Anderson was asked to write a summation to go with the cover story, she wrote about music and faith.

“Faith is the dynamo that powers life and music is the flame that ignites the fuel,” Pirtle said. “Music teaches us more about ourselves than words … It strengthens the fiber of our spirits and replenishes the reservoirs of our souls. For out of faith comes music, out of music comes joy.”

The museum will celebrate its grand reopening March 1 after a 2020 flood caused more than $500,000 in damages to the building on South Martin Street.

The Kimmel Center renamed its main performance venue after Anderson in 2024.