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Portia White Was Known Tary School in Rural Halifax County SUNDAY, MARCH 25, 2001 THE DAILY NEWS ponia While ANova Scotia phenomenon By Jay White hood during the Great Depression, she but was reportedly refused a room be­ Contributing Writer didn't expect fame and fortune to be cause she was black. Two years later handed to her on a platter. she returned to Halifax, this time After a few years of college (she singing at Queen Elizabeth High efore Hank Snow, before Anne never graduated from Dalhousie Uni­ School. Her last public appearance was Murray, or Rita MacNeil, the versity), she began teaching elemen­ in Ottawa in July 1967. After a long B name Portia White was known tary school in rural Halifax County. battle with cancer, Portia May White far and wide as the voice from Nova Meanwhile, she took voice lessons at died in Toronto on February 13, 1968 Scotia. the Halifax Conservatory. at the age of 57. In the 1940s, she sang for the Gov­ She won her category at the There were striking similarities be­ ernor-General in Ottawa, at wartime provincial music festival so many times tween Portia White and the great Victory Loan rallies in Toronto, and in that they awarded her the trophy. (It American contralto Marian Anderson. churches and auditoriums from is now on display at the Black Cultur­ Portia's father, the Rev. William An­ Ecuador to British Columbia. In al centre in Dartmouth). drew White, was from Virginia. So was 1944-45 Portia White gave no less The reviews were so good after her Marian's mother. than three recitals in New York City. Toronto debut in 1941 that she wired Like Portia, Anderson began Critics hailed her as "Canada's home her resignation from teaching at singing in a Baptist church at the age Marian Anderson," although Portia Africville School. Her mentor, an Ital­ of six. The Philadelphia neighbour­ herself never liked the comparison. ian baritone who came to Halifax in hood where Marian grew up banded Nevertheless, leading lights of the 1938, had misgivings about Portia together to help finance her training Harlem Renaissance called her "a phe­ pursuing a performing career. She was with an Italian teacher, just like citizens Portia White c.1944 nomenon." in her thirties when she made the fate­ of Halifax did for Portia. Anderson's Haligonians created a special fund ful decision. Years later she admitted: New York solo debut in 1935 took barrier to the operatic stage was finally Even before the First World War, Canadian operatic superstar Dame to boost her career; the City of Halifax "Everything happened too fast to me. place in the same venue where Portia broken in 1955 - 20 years after her ca­ Emma Albani was making records. So bought her a mink stole. In 1964 she In Europe, singers study 10 or 12 made hers in 1944. reer began. were popular Quebec singers like performed for Queen Elizabeth II in years. I came up like a mushroom." There were differences, too. Mari­ For Portia, the big break never Charlottetown. Vocal problems and a bout with an Anderson studied in Europe for five came. Although the renowned Harlem Madame Bolduc and Alys Robi in the Now, after forty years of relative cancer affected her health and her years before launching her career. She composer William Grant Still consid­ 30s and 40s. Fortunately, a live recording sur­ obscurity, Portia White is gaining a na­ singing career. Eventually she settled also performed all over the world. Por­ ered her for a role in his opera Trou­ vives in the National Library ofCan a­ tional audience. Last year Canada Post in Toronto, opening her own studio tia White's international exposure was bled Island, plans for the 1945 pro­ duction fell through. The nearest she da of Portia White's first New York issued a commemorative stamp in her and giving private lessons to aspiring confined to a three-month tour of came to professional theatre was a City performance in 1944. Her fumily honour. singers and actors like Dinah Christie Latin America in 1946 and a few im­ non-singing role as Tituba in a 1959 produced an LP of selections from that Anyone who knew Portia White and Don Francks. That is perhaps her promptu performances in Europe CBC-TV broadcast of Arthur Miller's concert just after her death; it has re­ noticed that there was something re­ greatest legacy. Former pupils remem­ while on holiday. The Crucible. cently resurfaced on CD. Sylvia Hamil­ gal in her bearing. But she was not ber her with genuine fondness. Both artists had the capability to At a time when American classical ton's filmography Think On Me doc­ aloof or arrogant. There was nothing Portia never entirely abandoned sing operatic roles, but were probably singers from Mario Lanza to Marian uments Portia's life and career. A new diva:like about her personality. Born performing. In 1955 she sang in the denied the opportunity for racial rea­ Anderson were landing lucrative generation of Nova Scotians is hearing into a large family and reaching adult- ballroom of the Lord Nelson Hotel sons. For Marian Anderson, the colour recording contracts, Portia had none. her voice for the first time. .
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