{"id":144732,"date":"2026-02-26T09:00:37","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T14:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=144732"},"modified":"2026-02-25T09:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T14:02:09","slug":"on-this-day-1939-first-lady-eleanor-roosevelt-resigns-from-the-d-a-r","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=144732","title":{"rendered":"Eleanor Roosevelt, the D.A.R., and Marian Andersen"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n86 years ago today, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt publicly resigned from the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) after the organization barred famous contralto Marian Anderson from singing at Constitution Hall. Howard University had invited Anderson to sing in Washington but the DAR owned the hall. They said No. <\/p>\n

Here’s a draft of the strongly worded letter she sent to the President of the DAR, Mrs. Henry M. Robert, Jr. <\/p>\n

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\nRoosevelt also wrote about it in her weekly column, saying, “To remain as a member implies approval of that action, and therefore I am resigning.”<\/p>\n

To those who can’t seem to grasp that widely-discussed news events existed before the age of social media, this was a well-publicized uproar that brought national headlines.<\/p>\n

The federal government – at the urging of the First Lady – invited Marian Anderson to come to Washington a couple months later – on Easter Sunday – and give a concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. 75,000 people showed up.<\/p>\n

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\nAnderson wrote later that looking out at that massive crowd was terrifying: “I could not run away from this situation. If I had anything to offer, I would have to do so now.” One of the songs she sang was “My Country Tis Of Thee.” Amazingly, we have video of this.<\/p>\n

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