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Struggle & ResistanceAchievement & Excellence

April 1939

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Resistance
Daughters 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.

Events

  1. April 9, 1939
    Daughters 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.

  2. April 9, 1939
    Marian Anderson sings at the Lincoln Memorial

    Barred from Constitution Hall, the contralto performs for 75,000 on the Memorial steps — a civil-rights watershed.

Resources from this period