The Sound of Freedom: Marian Anderson, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Concert that Awakened America by Raymond Arsenault (2009)In The Sound of Freedom, Raymond Arsenault connects the singer Marian Anderson and her famous Lincoln Memorial concert on April 9, 1939, with the beginning of the Civil Rights movement. Anderson rose to stellar heights of fame and fortune as an artist, overcoming the hurdles discrimination put in her path. By 1939, she had performed in cities across the United States and toured Europe, but her fame did not alter the American segregation laws that restricted where she could perform to places like high school auditoriums.
For a performance in Washington, D.C., originally the Daughters of the American Revolution’s Constitution Hall was requested. The D.A.R. denied Anderson use of the building because of a discriminatory policy. This provoked First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, a friend of Anderson’s, to resign from the D.A.R. and to announce her resignation in her national newspaper column. The resulting civil rights controversy reached a solution with the historic concert outdoors at the Lincoln Memorial, where Anderson performed for a racially integrated crowd of 75,000. This began fifty years of life in the national spotlight, where Anderson became a symbol of integration.
In telling this remarkable story, Arsenault’s detailed exploration and analysis of original sources includes newspaper accounts, collections from both the NAACP and the Roosevelts, and Anderson’s personal papers. This is an in-depth account of a pivotal moment in history, for patrons interested in musicians, American history, and the Civil Rights movement.
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