Marian Anderson Sings On The Steps Of The Lincoln Memorial (1939)
This Day in Esoteric Political History
Jody Avirgan & Radiotopia
4.6 • 982 Ratings
🗓️ 9 April 2024
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s April 9th. This day in 1939, singer Marian Anderson performs for 75,000 people outdoors on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial -- after being denied the chance to perform in every indoor venue in Washington, DC.
Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss how the concert came together, what Anderson meant to the civil rights movement at the time, and the mix of racial and cultural politics of the era.
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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from Radiotopia. |
| 0:07.0 | My name is Jody Avergan. |
| 0:09.0 | This day, April 9th, 1939. It is Easter Sunday. Now I know if you're listening to this in |
| 0:16.6 | 2024 and you're going, hey, Easter was like a week and a half ago, but Easter was super |
| 0:21.0 | early this year, 2024. Anyway, that's kind of how a calendar works just trust us it is |
| 0:25.0 | Easter Sunday 1939 April 9th we are in Washington DC and world |
| 0:30.9 | renowned opera singer Marion, is performing outside, for an audience |
| 0:35.5 | gathered outside the Lincoln Memorial. |
| 0:38.6 | Anderson was not planning to give an Al-Fresco concert that day, but she'd been denied the use of every indoor auditorium in the |
| 0:45.2 | District of Columbia because of her race. Anderson was black and venue after venue said she |
| 0:50.4 | couldn't come indoors for a concert that was set to draw tens of thousands of people. |
| 0:55.7 | So instead Anderson performed on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, an incredible moment. |
| 1:01.4 | This is also a chance to talk about race relations and the intersection |
| 1:05.1 | of cultural and racial policies in that time. Also, the amazing life and legacy of |
| 1:10.8 | Marion Anderson. We'll also listen to a little music at the end of this episode. Of course we have to and Hello Jody. Hey there. We'll do a biography of Marion Anderson, but let's go to that moment that April 9th. |
| 1:26.0 | It's a concert sponsored by Howard University. |
| 1:30.0 | Howard. |
| 1:31.0 | Howard. |
| 1:32.0 | I know I had to get that in, Kelly, before you got it in. |
| 1:36.5 | But it's kind of remarkable. |
| 1:38.5 | I mean, Anderson is very popular at this moment, right? |
| 1:40.5 | But it's kind of remarkable. |
... |
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