Marian Anderson: My Lord, What a Morning

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

Although it is titled “Easter Sunday,” Anderson’s account actually provides relatively few details about the 1939 Lincoln Memorial Concert or the series of events that led up to it. She remarks that upon finding out that she had been denied access to Constitution Hall, “I was saddened, but as it is my belief that right will win I assumed that a way would be found.” Indeed, Anderson appears almost entirely disengaged from the planning of the event, leaving the arrangements to her manager, Sal Hurok, and his staff. She mentions Eleanor Roosevelt’s resignation from the DAR only briefly. Although it was a pivotal event in Washington and a large-scale scandal for the DAR, Anderson refers to it as a fleeting headline that caught her attention in passing a newstand.

Rather, in the lead-up to her arrival in Washington, Anderson’s energy was focused on the sudden illness of her accompanist Kosti Vehanen. “Here was a crisis of immediate concern to me,” she said and concentrated her attention on preparing her new accompanist, Franz Rupp. However, as Easter Sunday approached, Anderson could not avoid the uproar ongoing in Washington. Friends, fans, and reporters were clamoring to find out what she had to say about Washington. But, as she recalls, “I did not want to talk, and I particularly did not want to say anything about the D.A.R.” Even nearly twenty years later in her autobiography, Anderson seems to hold back from being overly emotional about the facts. She admits that she “was saddened and ashamed” and describes the situation as mere “unpleasantness.”

It is unclear how much she was holding back about her feelings. Anderson was a private person by nature and did not wish to reveal too much to the public. Her autobiography itself was an exercise in reconciling her private and public personae. She was initially opposed to the idea of releasing an autobiography at all, but Hurok persuaded her to allow the New York Times music critic Howard Taubman to ghostwrite the project. As Allan Keiler outlines in his biography of Anderson, Taubman spent several months interviewing and tape-recording his conversations with Anderson in order to compile the book. But he encountered difficulties in getting Anderson to open up about her experiences:

Taubman found her unable to be frank about the difficulties of her childhood, or to talk easily about the prejudice and discrimination she faced. Whenever a subject arose that gave her any discomfort—the music school that turned her away, the need to criticize others, the Lincoln Memorial incident—she more often than not turned the tape recorder off before she was willing to go on.

Despite the difficulties in eliciting Anderson’s memories about the Lincoln Memorial concert, the pages of “Easter Sunday” underscore Anderson’s grace under pressure. She struggled with her role in a controversial and embarrassing situation but overcame her discomfort for the greater good. In discussing her decision to approve the concert plan, she admits that she hesitated, but ultimately said yes. She recalls, “I could see that my significance as an individual was small in this affair. I had become, whether I liked it or not, a symbol, representing my people. I had to appear.”

Anderson’s descriptions of the concert itself do not dwell on the symbolic nature of her performance or on her status as a burgeoning civil rights icon. Instead, she comments on nervousness about performing in front of such a crowd and how she is unsure how she even mustered the ability to sing. She is unfailingly modest about her role in the Lincoln Memorial concert. She avoids any characterizations of herself as a civil rights pioneer, giving herself no credit for influencing the DAR racial policies. She matter-of-factly states, “In time the policy at Constitution Hall changed.” Nor does she espouse any sense of triumph at her first Constitution Hall recital: “I had no feeling different from what I have in other halls.… I felt that it was a beautiful concert hall, and I was happy to sing in it.”

She ends the chapter remembering the bond she formed with Eleanor Roosevelt in the years following her Easter Sunday concert. The first lady’s understated role in the DAR controversy and her quiet support for Anderson throughout her career created a lasting relationship between them. Drawn together by mutual admiration and common purpose, these two remarkable women from radically different backgrounds overcame barriers of race and class to bring about a pivotal moment in the history of the American freedom struggle.