BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRICAN AMERICAN " LILLIAN EVANTI " WAS AN AMERICAN OPERA SINGER : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK GENIUS "

          BLACK     SOCIAL   HISTORY                                                                                                                      

Lillian Evanti

Lillian Evanti
Lillian Evanti in France in 1926
Background information
Birth name	Annie Wilson Lillian Evans
Born	August 12, 1890 Washington, D.C.
Died	December 6, 1967 (aged 77)
Occupation(s)	Opera Singer
Instruments	Soprano
Years active	1925–1945

Lillian Evanti (August 12, 1890 – December 6, 1967), was an African-American opera singer.

Life

She was born in Washington, D.C., and graduated from Armstrong Manual Training School.^[1]

She graduated from Howard University with a Bachelor's Degree in music and studied in France and Italy. Evanti, a soprano, sang at the Belasco Theater in 1926 with Marian Anderson.^[2] She debuted in 1927 in Delibes's Lakmé at Nice, France. As an opera singer and concert artist, she toured throughout Europe and South America.

In 1943, she performed with the Watergate Theater barge on the Potomac River.^[3] In 1944, she appeared at The Town Hall (New York City).^[4] She received acclaim as Violetta in Verdi's La traviata as produced by the National Negro Opera Company in 1945.^[5]

In 1963, she walked with her friend Alma Thomas in the March on Washington.^[6]

Family

She married Roy Tibbs, and lived at 1910 Vermont Avenue, Northwest, Washington, D.C.; they had a son, Thurlow E. Tibbs, Jr.