Caterina Jarboro

Caterina Jarboro (July 24, 1898 – August 13, 1986) was an African-American opera singer. She was the first black opera singer ever to sing on an opera stage in America, twenty-two years before Marian Anderson's début at the Metropolitan Opera.

Jarboro was born in 1898 at 214 Church Street, Wilmington, North Carolina. Her father was African-American and mother was Native-American. Her siblings were Joseph Jarboro of Philadelphia, and Anna Gayle of Palmetto, Florida.

Jarboro studied in North Carolina and then in New York. She sang in the theater musical Shuffle Along and in James P. Johnson's Running Wild. In 1930 she debuted in opera with Verdi's Aida at the Puccini Theatre in Milan, Italy.

In 1933, twenty-two years before Marian Anderson's début at the Metropolitan Opera, impresario Alfredo Salmaggi hired Jarboro to sing with his opera company at the New York Hippodrome. She was presented in the role of Seleka in Meyerbeer's L'Africaine. She was the first black opera singer ever to sing on an opera stage in America. This milestone earned Salmaggi special recognition from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Many other opera appearances throughout Europe followed. She returned to the United States in 1941. Among her performances were a recitals at the Town Hall in 1942 and Carnegie Hall in 1944. She retired in 1955.

Jarboro died in August 13, 1986 in Manhattan. She is believed to have been 88 years old.