The trailblazing singer, who broke the color barrier at the Metropolitan Opera in 1955, is remembered in a deluxe new release of albums and images.

These songs take on some of the ugliest stories in our history and reflect the commitment of Black musicians to telling the truth of how Black people have been wronged, and survived, and fought back.

Anderson was an early inspiration for scholar Shana Redmond, who explores the places she still feels the diva's presence: an inscrutable photo, a scrap of silent film, a concert borne on her legacy.

In Jay Z's latest song, released last week after the shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, no amount of wealth or prestige allows him to forget that he is a black man, under threat.