BONUS | Binding up the nation's wounds

Presidential

The Washington Post

History, Government, Education

4.5 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 19 June 2020

⏱️ 29 minutes

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Summary

The famous black contralto singer Marian Anderson performed at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939, after being denied the ability to perform down the street at Constitution Hall. And when she did, she transformed the monument into something more than a stone temple to Abraham Lincoln. She ushered in its new life as an active place for generations of Americans to continue the work to“bind up the nation’s wounds.”

Hosted by Washington Post journalist Lillian Cunningham, the podcast episode features experts Molefi Kete Asante, head of the African American Studies Department at Temple University; Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln”; and Post architecture critic Philip Kennicott.

This is a special episode of the “Presidential” podcast series. In 44 chronological episodes, the “Presidential” podcast took listeners on an epic historical journey through the personality and legacy of each of the American presidents. Created and hosted by Lillian Cunningham, “Presidential” features interviews with the country’s greatest experts on the presidency, including Pulitzer Prize-winning biographers, historians and journalists.

The full “Presidential” series is available to listen to here. Start listening at the very beginning, with the life of George Washington, or jump ahead to any president whose story you want to better understand.

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's been four years since I made the presidential podcast, and not a day has
0:08.4	gone by that I don't think about it. The research I did, the lessons I learned,
0:13.8	the stories I told, they stuck with me, and they also planted in me a new way of
0:20.4	seeing the realities that continue to unfold around us. Recently there were
0:26.4	images in the news of the DC National Guard on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
0:32.3	They were in camouflage and they were wearing body armor and they were lined up
0:37.5	as if to block protesters from approaching the monument. They were striking
0:45.0	eerie photos. Here's a site dedicated to the president who freed enslaved
0:52.4	Americans. A site famous for literally providing a platform for civil rights
0:58.8	protests and it's being guarded from citizens. It left me wondering about the
1:05.3	history of the monument. How exactly it was that the Lincoln Memorial came to be
1:11.8	not just an American symbol of equality, but an actual active and central site
1:20.2	where we the people continue the work as Abraham Lincoln put it to bind up
1:26.8	the nation's wounds. It turns out it took an active leadership in 1939 to
1:34.7	enshrine the Lincoln Memorial with that purpose. It took the leadership of a
1:40.8	singer, a first lady, a president, and a citizenry all together. I'd like to
1:49.3	tell you that story. I'm Lilian Cunningham with The Washington Post and this is a
1:55.1	special episode of Presidential.
2:20.3	America 1939 Franklin Roosevelt was president. The country was still
2:30.8	reeling from an economic depression, the polio epidemic, a deadly flu, a world war,
2:37.9	and persistent racial discrimination.
2:49.3	In the midst of all this turmoil, an incredible singer named Mary and Anderson
	...

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