Since the early 1920?s, when opera performances and plays were staged, black diva singers have always had their testing times before their talents were recognized. It was a long struggle for black diva singers. One of these black diva singers who garnered not only admiration but respect as well was Jessye Norman, an internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano.

Norman gained France?s respect when asked to do the honor of singing their national anthem on Bastille Day (Independence Day in France). Acclaimed to be one of the renowned superstars, whose presence can guarantee a full house in any of the great music palaces -- the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, the Glyndebourne Opera in London and La Scala in Milan, Norman is only one of the black diva singers drawing huge crowds and thunderous ovations in the elite opera world.

Norman may be one of the most immediately recognizable names among the growing legion of successors to Marian Anderson and Leontyne Price, she has contemporaries who are executing the big roles, filling the big theaters, and rightfully laying claim to the title "diva."

Throughout the world now, there are about 20 black American women recognized as being among the finest black diva singers of the day. Among these black diva singers that are considered superstars are Grace Bumbry and Shirley Verrett.

However, with the burst of new generation?s talents in the scene with a combination of poise, presence and unique voices, the once monochromatic opera world is now transformed into a brilliant mosaic. Their vigor and energy brings new life into music, ?enriching yet still indescribably warm?, as described by some critics.

?Soul? to the opera

As Rosalyn M. Story, author of And So I Sing: African-American Divas of Opera and Concert, states, "Today, the Black diva flourishes in a world that excluded her for generations." These black diva singers have brought ?soul? to the opera.

This gifted sorority group includes Harolyn Blackwell, Kathleen Battle, Barbara Hendricks, Leona Mitchell, Wilhelminia Fernandez, Marvis Martin, Clamma Dale, Isola Jones, Carmen Balthrop, Cynthia Clarey, Gwendolyn Bradley, Florence Quivar and Roberta Alexander, aside from Norman. They were better known as the black diva singers.

The group was gifted in different vocal styles, ranging from shimmering, lyric coloraturas such as Blackwell, Battle and Hendricks to the rich, stentorian mezzos such as Norman and Dale.

The Black church has played an integral part on the grooming of a great many black diva singers. From Marian Anderson on, the black diva singers have developed stage presence and performance style within the Black church.

"If there have been Black classical singers who grew up with no church affiliation and no early experience singing in a church choir, they are the exceptions to the rule," states Rosalyn Story.

"Without the church experience, I don't know that I would have been able to sing in front of the public," says Leona Mitchell, one of the black diva singers who debuted in singing for a family gospel group.

Grace Bumbry, another member of the black diva singers, has called the church, "the rock that we depended on."

Standard bearer

It has been more than 50 years since Anderson, one of the black diva singers who quietly carved out a place in history with her famous Easter concert at the entrance of Lincoln Memorial in Washington - a venue made available when the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow her to perform in the then-segregated Constitution Hall - remains the standard bearer for grace and elegance among Black singers, and many White singers as well.

And it was Price, who made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1961 (Anderson broke the Met's color barrier six years earlier), whose many successes in the famed opera house helped usher in the current era of booming Black talent.

Presently, 14 percent of the regular singers at the Met are Black, based on a study in Ovation magazine.

Another American opera singer Mitchell, Abbie born in 1898 created the role of "Clara" in George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess in 1935. It was in 1898 that opera singer Mitchell of Porgy and Bess began her career in musical comedy with Will Marion Cook's Clorindy; or, the Origin of the Cakewalk.

In a joint production with the Walker and Williams companies, Black Patti's Troubadours and in the Cole-Johnson operetta, The Red Moon, opera singer Mitchell was given a role and became famous. Then renowned, opera singer Mitchell went to Europe with Cook's Southern Syncopated Orchestra in 1919.

Thus then, opera singer Mitchell began performing on the concert stage and performing opera in New York, at the same time teaching at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

In 1922, opera singer Mitchell sang in a short film by Lee De Forest, ?Songs of Yesteryears?, which was recorded on DeForest?s Phonofilm sound-on-film technology.

Opera singer Mitchell starred in Porgy and Bess, a stage play where she made her final appearance as an opera singer and performer. ?Clara? was remarkably played by opera singer Mitchell of Porgy and Bess that acclaimed her last performance as her best.