Marian Anderson, Constitution Hall and the 1939 Lincoln Memorial Concert

Washington's Constitution Hall, designed by architect John Russell Pope in a striking neoclassical style, is famous above all for a concert that never took place there.

Marian Anderson sings from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, April 9, 1939. Image from the National Park Service's page.

Turned away

In 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) — an all-white organization of descendants of Revolutionary War soldiers, which owned the hall — refused to let the celebrated African American opera singer Marian Anderson perform there. It was the only venue in the city large enough for the audiences she drew, but it barred Black performers. The DAR would not make an exception and said the hall was already booked.

"My Country, 'Tis of Thee"

The NAACP and Anderson's manager, Sol Hurok, arranged for her to sing instead on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes helped organize the concert for Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939. With a piano accompanying her, Anderson opened with "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" before an integrated crowd of 75,000. The concert lasted 25 minutes. Anderson later reflected that she could not run away from the situation — that if she had anything to offer, it had to be then.

Although Anderson and the DAR both described the affair as a misunderstanding, her outdoor concert became a national symbol of the civil rights movement. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the DAR in protest.

Constitution Hall, 1943

In 1943 the DAR made an exception to its racial ban — which lasted until 1952 — and invited Anderson to sing at Constitution Hall in a concert to benefit the war effort. She agreed on condition that the audience be integrated. About half of the sold-out house was Black, and Eleanor Roosevelt, two Supreme Court justices and other prominent officials attended. Anderson closed with "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Legacy

Anderson's concert beneath the Lincoln statue has become part of the nation's memory of race relations, and the DAR, against its intentions, gave publicity and a voice to the civil rights struggle. The organization has since apologized for its segregationist past and has worked to set the record straight, including by amending the National Historic Landmark nomination for Constitution Hall to document the significance of Anderson's exclusion. The hall stands as a reminder of a turning point in the civil rights movement, when one woman sang against adversity.

Sources

• National Park Service, "Marian Anderson and Constitution Hall" (Lincoln Memorial; National Mall and Memorial Parks): https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/marian-anderson-and-constitution-hall.htm
• The NPS article cites the National Historic Landmark nomination for Constitution Hall. Anderson's own words are paraphrased here.
• Words on this page from people and organisations outside the federal government are paraphrased; rewritten in hubnx's own words.