DAR Constitution Hall Welcomes Renowned Contralto Singer Marian Anderson Back Again

DAR Constitution Hall Welcomes Renowned Contralto Singer Marian Anderson Back Again


WHAT: The Postal Service will dedicate the Marian Anderson stamp,
the 28th in the Black Heritage commemorative stamp series.
Symbolically, the ceremony will take place where the
operatic and concert artist was once prohibited from
performing because of her skin color.

WHO: John M. Nolan, Deputy Postmaster General, U.S. Postal
Service
Presley Merritt Wagoner, President General, Daughters of
the American Revolution
Denyce Graves, mezzo-soprano
Allan Keiler, musicologist and author
James DePreist, nephew of Marian Anderson, & Director of
Conducting and Orchestral Studies at the Juilliard School
Duke Ellington School of the Performing Arts

WHEN: Thurs., Jan. 27, 11 a.m. (ET)

WHERE: Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR)
Memorial Continental Hall at Constitution Hall
O'Byrne Gallery
17th & D Streets, NW
Washington, DC

BACKGROUND: Anderson is known as one of the nation's greatest
classically trained singers and an important figure in the
struggle of black Americans for racial equality. Anderson
was a victim of racism in 1939 when the Daughters of the
Americans Revolution (DAR) refused to make its Washington,
DC Constitution Hall available due to a "white artists
only" policy. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who witnessed
Anderson's performance at a White House dinner, resigned
from the DAR and made arrangements for Anderson to perform
before an audience of 75,000 at the Lincoln Memorial while
millions more heard it on the radio. The episode caused
the media to look more closely at cases of discrimination
involving Anderson and other African American performers.
Anderson subsequently performed at Constitution Hall on
several occasions including the summer of 1942 when the DAR
invited her to sing for the first concert in a series of
benefit performances to aid war relief efforts. Anderson
also began her farewell American tour at Constitution Hall
in 1964.



CONTACT: Frances Frazier, +1-202-268-2898, Cell: +1-202-285-6374, mfrances.frazier@usps.gov, or Deborah Yackley, +1-301-548-1465, Cell: +1-410-963-8426, deborah.a.yackley@usps.gov, both of the U.S. Postal Service; or Bren Landon of Daughters of the American Revolution, +1-202-572-0563, blandon@dar.org

PRNewswire -- Jan. 21


Source: U.S. Postal Service

Web site: http://www.usps.com/


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