THE SOUND OF FREEDOM: MARIAN ANDERSON, THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL, AND THE CONCERT THAT AWAKENED AMERICA
WEDNESDAY, April 8, 2009, 6:30 p.m.
Free. Reservations Required. Please call 215.409.6700 or order online.
Annenberg Center for Education and Outreach
Kirby Auditorium
National Constitution Center
Independence Mall
525 Arch Street
Philadelphia, PA
Easter 2009 will mark the 70th anniversary of one of the most dramatic concerts in American history: world famous African American contralto Marian Anderson’s concert at the Lincoln Memorial. The Sound of Freedom: Marian Anderson, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Concert That Awakened America is the story of Anderson’s journey to this moment. In a conversation moderated by Sheldon Hackney, award-winning historian Raymond Arsenault will tell the story of Marian Anderson, one of the most enduring and iconic figures of the Civil Rights movement. Through immense raw talent and unrelenting determination, Anderson overcame racial prejudice to inspire all Americans and to become one of the greatest singers of her time.
Marian Anderson was born in Philadelphia in 1897. Though racial segregation was not codified in Philadelphia as it was in the Jim Crow South, significant barriers to upward mobility still existed for African Americans. As blacks moved to the North, tensions rose in cities like Philadelphia. But even in this period of turbulence, a rich artistic culture was flourishing in the African American community.
By 1939, Anderson was already world famous. She had toured extensively throughout the U.S. and had become a sensation in Europe. In 1936, Eleanor Roosevelt helped to cement Anderson’s stature when she wrote in her syndicated column a review of a performance at the White House: “I have rarely heard a more beautiful and moving voice or a more finished artist.” In the spring of 1939, after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow Anderson to perform at Constitution Hall because she was black, Mrs. Roosevelt publicly revoked her membership in a bold act of protest, and convinced Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes to allow the concert to proceed—on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. On Easter Sunday, 75,000 people flooded the National Mall to experience what became one of the most memorable concerts in American history.
Raymond Arsenault is the John Hope Franklin Professor of Southern History and Co-Director of the Florida Studies Program at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, where he has taught since 1980. A specialist in the political, social, and environmental history of the American South, he has also taught at the University of Minnesota, Brandeis University, and at the Universite d’Angers in France, where he was a Fulbright Lecturer from 1984-85. From 1980 to 1987, he was the co-director of the Fulbright Commission’s Summer Institute on American Studies at the University of Minnesota. In addition, Arsenault has served as a consultant for numerous museums and public institutions, including the National Park Service, the National Civil Rights Museum, and the Rosa Parks Museum. He has also lectured on American history and culture in a number of countries.
Sheldon Hackney is the Boies Professor of U.S. History. He specializes in the history of the American South since the Civil War. Out of an interest in American utopias and other social movements comes an emphasis on the Civil Rights Movement in particular, and the 1960s in general. He is at work on a book about the American identity from pre-colonial days to the present. Among the articles and books on history that Hackney has published, Populism to Progressivism in Alabama won the Albert J. Beveridge Award of the American Historical Association. He is the former president of the University of Pennsylvania (1981 - 1993) and the former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities (1993 - 1997).
A book sale and signing will follow the program courtesy of Joseph Fox Bookshop. Parking for this event is available for $7.00 at the National Constitution Center garage located at the rear of the building on Race Street between 5th and 6th Streets. Parking availability is subject to change, so please call the Constitution Center on the day of the program or check our web site for more information. Please also see our directions by public transportation.
For reservations please call 215.409.6700 or order online. Programs at the National Constitution Center begin promptly and latecomers may not be admitted to the program. Please note that this program is subject to change.
The National Constitution Center is hosting the world debut of America I AM: The African American Imprint, celebrating nearly 500 years of African American contributions to this country. The exhibition presents a historical continuum of pivotal moments in courage, conviction, and creativity that solidifies the undeniable imprint of African Americans across the nation and around the world. Featuring more than 200 artifacts culled from every period of U.S. history, the exhibit will include objects, texts, religion, music, narration, and media. An interactive component of the exhibition will allow visitors to leave their own video “imprints,” and this collection will grow throughout the life of the exhibition with the potential to become the largest recorded oral history project in U.S. history. The exhibition is developed in partnership with Tavis Smiley, and organized by Cincinnati Museum Center and Arts and Exhibitions International (AEI).
Link:
The Sound of Freedom: Marian Anderson, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Concert That Awakened America
