1939
The Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow contralto Marian Anderson to perform at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., citing a whites-only artist clause. The refusal — and Eleanor Roosevelt's public resignation from the DAR in protest — turned a venue booking into a national civil rights moment.
When the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow Black contralto Marian Anderson to perform at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. due to her race, Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the DAR in protest and helped arrange a free outdoor concert at the Lincoln Memorial. On April 9, 1939, Anderson sang before 75,000 people and a national radio audience. She opened with 'My Country, 'Tis of Thee.' The event transformed a discriminatory act into a powerful counter-narrative and remains one of the most resonant moments of civil rights-era cultural resistance. Anderson later became the first Black person to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in 1955.
Zoom in — months
Key events
- January 1939DAR Refuses Constitution Hall to Marian Anderson
The Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow contralto Marian Anderson to perform at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., citing a whites-only artist clause. The refusal — and Eleanor Roosevelt's public resignation from the DAR in protest — turned a venue booking into a national civil rights moment.
- April 9, 1939Daughters of the American Revolution Bar Marian Anderson from Constitution Hall; She Sings at Lincoln Memorial
When the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow Black contralto Marian Anderson to perform at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. due to her race, Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the DAR in protest and helped arrange a free outdoor concert at the Lincoln Memorial. On April 9, 1939, Anderson sang before 75,000 people and a national radio audience. She opened with 'My Country, 'Tis of Thee.' The event transformed a discriminatory act into a powerful counter-narrative and remains one of the most resonant moments of civil rights-era cultural resistance. Anderson later became the first Black person to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in 1955.
- April 9, 1939Marian Anderson sings at the Lincoln Memorial
Barred from Constitution Hall, the contralto performs for 75,000 on the Memorial steps — a civil-rights watershed.