DAR barred black singer

Regarding the reprint of the DAR story in Thursday’s South Hill Voice (Real Daughter of DAR buried in Spokane, May 28), neither the original nor the reprint included an important issue that has haunted this organization for generations.

In 1939, the DAR refused to allow world-acclaimed American contralto Marian Anderson to appear in their Constitution Hall at the nation’s capital before a sold-out integrated audience. Anderson was black.

With help from President Franklin D. Roosevelt and first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, on Easter Sunday she performed an open air concert at the Lincoln Memorial before an audience of more than 75,000 with millions more by radio. The event proved to be an important milestone in the integration of America.

Robert Barcus

Spokane