"I regret exceedingly that Washington is to be deprived of hearing Marian Anderson, a great artist."Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was First Lady for 12 years. An outspoken advocate of social justice, she became a moral force during the Roosevelt administration, using her position as First Lady to promote social causes.
--Eleanor Roosevelt, telegram to treasurer of Marian Anderson Citizens Committee, reported in the New York Times, February 27, 1939
File copy of letter from Eleanor Roosevelt to president general of
the DAR.
In a dramatic and celebrated act of conscience, Eleanor Roosevelt resigned
from the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) when it barred the world-renowned
singer Marian Anderson, an African American, from performing at its Constitution
Hall in Washington, DC. Following this well-publicized controversy, the federal
government invited Anderson to sing at a public recital on the steps of the
Lincoln Memorial. On Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939, some 75,000 people came
to hear the free recital. The incident put both the artist and the issue of
racial discrimination in the national spotlight.
The DAR had adopted a rule excluding African-American artists from the Constitution
Hall stage in 1932 following protests over "mixed seating," blacks and whites
seated together, at concerts of black artists. You may read a 2-page letter
from Mrs. Henry M. Robert, Jr., president general of the DAR, responding to
Mrs. Roosevelt's resignation. Page 1 (56K JPEG)and
Page 2 (57K JPEG)..
View of 75,000 people gathered to hear recital by Marian Anderson at the
steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939
In her autobiography, Anderson recalled the historic concert: "All I knew
then was the overwhelming impact of that vast
multitude . . . I had a feeling that a great wave of good will poured out
from these people."
The documents shown here are from the papers of Eleanor Roosevelt, which
are at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, New York. Other National
Archives records relating to the 1939 Easter Sunday concert are among the
Records of the National Park Service.
National Archives and Records Administration
