This Day in History: 1902-02-27

Birthday of renowned contralto opera singer Marian Anderson, an important figure in the struggle against racial prejudice. She was at the center of an international news story in 1939, when the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused to allow Anderson to sing to an integrated audience in Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. With the aid of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Anderson performed a critically acclaimed open-air concert on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939, on the Lincoln Memorial steps in the capital. She sang before an integrated crowd of more than 75,000 people and a radio audience in the millions. Learn more.