The words “My country ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty” rang out to the crowd of 75,000 in front of the Lincoln Memorial to begin the most famous concert ever held in the national capital. The nation listened via NBC Radio. The singer, contralto Marian Anderson, became a symbol of the Civil Rights movement. She hadn’t planned it this way. Marion was one of the most famous singers in the world in 1939. Howard University wanted to host a concert by her and turned to Constitution Hall for the venue. Unfortunately, the Daughters of the American Revolution had a clause in its contracts forbidding any non-white singer from using its hall. This resulted in a scandal. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the DAR and explained her reasons in her column “My Day”. Walter White of the NAACP suggested the Lincoln Memorial and Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes approved and introduced Ms. Anderson at the beginning of the concert on April 9, 1939. It started with the song “America” and ended with three spirituals: “Gospel Train”, “Trampin’”, and “My Soul is Anchored in the Lord”. She was awarded the NAACP’s Springarn Medal that year. It was her greatest moment in a long career that started with a Baptist choir at age six. She became famous in Europe and returned to America to be the first African-American to sing at the White House in 1936. She was friends with Albert Einstein and slept at his house numerous times, including when local hotels would not have a black woman. She was the first black woman to sing at an inaugural – Eisenhower’s. And later Kennedy’s. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
https://www.npr.org/2014/04/09/298760473/denied-a-stage-she-sang-for-a-nation
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