#constitution hall

Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Gershwin Prize Concert, Constitution Hall, Washington, DC, 20 March 2024. Upper photo: Elton John with Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. Lower photo John with Bernie Taupin leaning on the piano.

GBN Daily Drop Podcast: Classical and Opera Singer Marian Anderson – “The Voice of Freedom” (LISTEN)

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson) Today’s GBN Daily Drop podcast expands on the Tuesday, February 8 entry in the “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022, which offers an inspirational quote from famous contralto Marian Anderson. I include that, as well as a bit more historical context and links to sources, which can be found in the show’s transcript below. (Btw, GBN’s…

“File Copy of Letter from Eleanor Roosevelt to Mrs. Henry Roberts Resigning from the Daughters of the American Revolution,” 2/26/1939

Today in History: Eleanor Roosevelt Resigns from the DAR in Support of Marian Anderson

Eleanor Roosevelt first met African American contralto opera singer Marian Anderson in 1935 when the singer was invited to perform at the White House.

Ms. Anderson had performed throughout Europe to great praise, and after the White House concert the singer focused her attentions on a lengthy concert tour of the United States. Beginning in 1936, Anderson sang an annual concert to benefit the Howard University School of Music in Washington, DC. These benefit concerts were so successful, that each year larger and larger venues had to be found.

In January 1939, Howard University petitioned the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) to use its Washington, DC auditorium called Constitution Hall for a concert to be scheduled over Easter weekend that year. Constitution Hall was built in the late 1920s to house the DAR’s national headquarters and host its annual conventions. It seated 4,000 people, and was the largest auditorium in the capital. As such, it was the center of the city’s fine arts and music events universe.          

However, in 1939, Washington, DC was still a racially segregated city. As part of the original funding arrangements for Constitution Hall, major donors had insisted that only whites could perform on stage.This unwritten white-performers-only policy was enforced against African American singer/actor Paul Robeson in 1930. Additionally, blacks who attended events there were seated in a segregated section of the Hall.

The organizers of Marian Anderson’s 1939 concert hoped that Anderson’s fame and reputation would encourage the DAR to make an exception to its restrictive policy. But the request was denied anyway, and despite pressure from the press, other great artists, politicians, and a new organization called the Marian Anderson Citizens Committee (MACC), the DAR held fast and continued to deny Anderson use of the Hall.

On February 26, 1939, Mrs. Roosevelt submitted her letter of resignation to the DAR president, declaring that the organization had “set an example which seems to me unfortunate” and that the DAR had “an opportunity to lead in an enlightened way” but had “failed to do so.” That same day, she sent a telegram to an officer of the Marian Anderson Citizens Committee publicly expressing for the first time her disappointment that Anderson was being denied a concert venue. Read More 

Images:

Eleanor Roosevelt’s DAR resignation letter, 2/26/39.

Eleanor Roosevelt to John Lovell, Jr. of Howard University. February 26, 1939.

Preparing the Stage and Seating the Audience for Lionel Richie Gershwin Prize Concert, Constitution Hall, Washington, DC, 2022.

Get Your Anti-Racism On – Write a Letter

Are you wondering what you can do in the time of corona virus and George Floyd’s horrific death to do something meaningful? How about picking up a pen or clicking a keyboard and writing a letter?

Whatever your method, analog or digital, a few moments today could be spent in changing the world. It might also be a lasting way to teach a child to become interested in advocacy by adding some…

Town Hall renamed to reflect Constitution origins

Premier Alden McLaughlin and Speaker of the House McKeeva Bush unveil commemorative plaque

(CNS Local Life): The George Town Town Hall was the scene of celebrations Monday, 1 July, marking the 60th anniversary of the Cayman Islands Constitution, which culminated in the building being renamed to recognise the venue where the first constitution of the Cayman Islands was signed in 1959. A plaque…