Lentorama 2022: It Happened on Easter

Day 38: Marian Anderson sings

In 1939, contralto Marian Anderson was trying to plan a concert for Washington, DC. Only problem was that Anderson, an African-American, couldn't find a venue. The Daughters of the American Revolution denied her the use of Constitution Hall, which when the DAR wasn't hosting their national convention was often used for concerts. Turns out the DAR had a whites-only performer policy in place at the time, and the building also lacked segregated bathrooms (as required by DC law). Anderson then tried to book the auditorium at a whites-only high school, but was similarly denied by the city's board of education.

An ad hoc group of supporters, drawn mainly from civil rights and labor groups, formed the Marian Anderson Citizens Committee, which then put pressure on the DC Board of Education to change their decision. In addition, the DAR saw a slew of resignations after their decision, most notably by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

As pressure mounted to let Anderson sing, Roosevelt was able to lean on her husband, who then got Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes to let Anderson perform an open air concert at the Lincoln Memorial. And so it was that Anderson, on April 9, 1939, performed for an assembled crowd of 75,000 (and millions more at home over the NBC radio network).

This landmark concert opened up further opportunities for Anderson to perform in integrated settings, most notably a 1943 concert at the now-integrated Constitution Hall (though the DC Board of Education still banned her from using public high schools). Anderson would later go on to become the first African-American to perform with the Metropolitan Opera, sang at the inaugurations of Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her work promoting civil and human rights before retiring from singing in 1965.