illness. Honors John Hay Whitney Foundation Grant, Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund scholarship, and Ford Foundation Opera Fellowship William Matheus Sullivan Award Named an African American Woman of Distinction by Essence Magazine Marian Anderson Award (1957) Walter W. Naumburg Foundation Award (1958) Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (1970) Achievement Award of the Women's Division of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (1975) Honorary Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the College of the Holy Cross (1978) Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres (1984) Honorary Doctor of Music degree from Northeastern University, Verrett's alma mater (1987) Honorary Doctor of Music degree from the Juilliard School (2002) The Shirley Verrett Award was established at the University of Michigan in 2011 by the Office of the Senior Vice Provost References External links Shirley Verrett's website University of Michigan faculty page Discography (Capon's Lists of Opera Recordings) An appreciation Highlights from Verrett's discography with analysis and discussion by F. Paul Driscoll Interview with Shirley Verrett, September 23, 1987 1931 births 2010 deaths 20th-century African-American women singers 20th-century American women opera singers African-American women opera singers American musical theatre actresses American operatic mezzo-sopranos International House of New York alumni Juilliard School alumni Writers from Louisiana Musicians from New Orleans University of Michigan faculty Winners of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Singers from Louisiana African-American women academics American women academics African-American academics 21st-century American women