Dayton Philharmonic and Marian Anderson

In 1938, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra held a concert in which they performed with none other than Marian Anderson, a famous African-American contralto. She performed Ave Maria beautifully, among a number of other pieces she sang with the orchestra. Her performance was very well received by those who saw her, but Dayton was far from overcoming racial injustice at this point. Anderson was staying at the local Biltmore, but they would not let her come in through the front doors. Her Dayton performance was a year before the incident in Washington D.C. that led to Eleanor Roosevelt's resignation from the Daughters of the American Revolution.

It was 1939 when Marian Anderson was supposed to perform at Constitutional Hall. The owners of the hall, the D.A.R., refused to let her sing there. This infuriated the 1st lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. She promptly resigned from the D.A.R. and helped to schedule Marian in another performance, one that would gain national attention. Anderson sang in front of the Lincoln Memorial. She performed, "My Country 'Tis of Thee," in a rendition that induces chills. (Refer to video below!)





Watch Marian Anderson perform at the Lincoln Memorial, after being refused at Constitutional Hall by the D.A.R. in 1939: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAONYTMf2pk

Works Cited

Laura Januzzi and Carole Judge, “A New Beginning: The Dayton Philharmonic’s 75^th Anniversary Commemorative Book.” 
Photo Credit: http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/aboutfdr/images/andersonbanner.jpg