Connecticut’s African American Freedom Trail

Connecticut’s African American Freedom Trail

Connecticut’s African American Freedom Trail includes a stop at the Marian Anderson studio in Danbury. Marian Anderson was one of the most celebrated opera singers of the 20th century and the first African American to perform in New York City’s Metropolitan Opera, in 1955.

Ms. Anderson and her husband, architect Orpheus Fisher, established a home base in Danbury on Joe’s Hill Road in 1940, naming it Marianna Farm.

The 24-by-20-foot practice studio was saved in 1999 by the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation from destruction by developers who proposed a privately owned subdivision on the land. The studio was relocated to the Main Street site of the Danbury Museum and Historical Society.