Marian Anderson performs at mural dedication, Jan. 6, 1943, Department of Interior Auditorium, Washington, D.C

@ Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research

Office of War Information

Description

Photograph of contralto Marian Anderson singing at the Department of Interior Auditorium on Jan. 6, 1943. The concert was part of a dedication ceremony for a new mural decorating the auditorium. The mural depicted Anderson performing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on April 9, 1939. In that year, Anderson was scheduled to give a concert at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. But the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), who owned Constitution Hall, barred Anderson, an African-American, from singing there. Incensed by this refusal, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigned her DAR membership, and she and a group of Anderson supporters arranged for Anderson to sing at the Lincoln Memorial. On Easter Sunday 1939, Anderson sang for 75,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial, and later that day performed another concert at the Department of Interior Auditorium. The photo of Anderson singing in 1943 was released by the Office of War Information and published in the California Eagle.

Type:

Image

Format:

Photographs

Rights:

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