| With our hero, Eleanore. My favorite Eleanore story is probably the Marian Anderson story. It was the 1930s and Marian Anderson had been singing concerts, recitals, and opera roles all over Europe. She was invited to sing at Constitution Hall, but when the Daughters of the Revolution figured out she was black, they dis-invited her. Eleanore got wind of it, thought it was awful, and, with the backing of the President, set up an even better venue for her: she set up the first outdoor concert to be held at the Lincoln Memorial. On Easter Sunday, 1939, Miriam Anderson sang for a crowd of 75,000 people and a radio audience of millions. |