This Sunday, if you're near DC and want to have a marvelous afternoon ....

[Stinky The Clown]

.... consider the celebration of Marian Anderson's 1939 concert at the Lincoln Memorial, with singer Denyse Graves. 3.00 pm - free admission.

About the event on Sunday: http://dc.about.com/od/specialevents/a/MarianAndConcer.htm

More on Ms. Anderson and the original concert:


Ms. Anderson with FDR's Interior Secretary Harold Ickes


The concert

Just a small part of her story:

In 1938, following her numerous international and national successes, Hurok believed it was time for Anderson to appear in the nation's capital, at a major hall. She had previously appeared in Washington, D.C., at churches, schools, civic organization meetings, and at Howard University, but she had not appeared at the district's premiere auditorium, Constitution Hall. At that time, when negotiations began for a Marian Anderson concert to be given in 1939 at the Daughters of the American Revolution-owned hall, a clause appeared in all contracts that restricted the hall to "a concert by white artists only, and for no other purpose." Thus in February 1939 the American who had represented her country with honor across the globe was denied the right to sing at Constitution Hall simply because she was not white.

A great furor ensued, and thanks to the efforts of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, the great contralto appeared the following Easter Sunday (9 Apr. 1939) on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial before an appreciative audience of 75,000. She began the concert by singing "America" and then proceeded to sing an Italian aria, Schubert's Ave Maria, and three Negro spirituals, "Gospel Train," "Trampin,"' and "My Soul Is Anchored in the Lord." Notably, she also sang "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen." Commemorating the 1939 Lincoln Memorial concert is a mural at the Interior Department; it was formally presented in 1943, the year that Anderson made her first appearance in Constitution Hall, by invitation of the Daughters of the American Revolution and benefiting United China Relief.




And here is Ms. Graves, who will be singing on Sunday

[madinmaryland]

1. We are planning on going down on Sunday morning.

Are you all going to be in DC Sunday?

[Stinky The Clown]

2. We're still uncertain

I am buried in work ....... but we might. No kids for the holiday, so maybe we will. If we do, this is probably where we're going.

[madinmaryland]

3. We were planning on taking a drive down in the am to see the cherry blossoms.

Not sure what else we'll do. It's just the three of us. Me, my wife and daughter.

:hi:

[panader0]

4. I wish I could be there. Thanks for the history lesson.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. The mural in the Dept of the Interior Building

The DOI Building's interior is a true work of American art. Every wall in its main corridors and all of its public spaces are covered in original murals.

Off topic, but ...... in the cafeteria, currently undergoing renovations, is an incredible mural that is easily 80 feet long. This is just one part of it: