June 8, 2024, was declared Marian Anderson Day in the state of Pennsylvania.
June 8, 2024 is also the day that the Philadelphia Orchestra, with whom she had made her hometown debut in 1937, renamed its concert hall in her honor. Many of us recall her most famous moment.
"On April 9, 1939, the 42-year-old American contralto and international star Marian Anderson walked onto a temporary stage on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and began to sing. She opened with 'My Country, 'Tis of Thee,' a pointed choice given the events that had led to those first notes. Anderson had come to Washington at the invitation of Howard University, and the venerable Constitution Hall had been chosen as the venue for her much-anticipated appearance — until the Daughters of the American Revolution, who owned the hall, made clear that they would not allow a Black artist to perform on their stage. What the group did not count on was the dissent of one of their members, first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who resigned from the DAR in protest and assisted in the effort to find an alternate venue, producing an event that would highlight the ongoing national struggle for racial equality. Where better than in the shadow of Abraham Lincoln himself?"
https://www.npr.org/2024/06/11/nx-s1-5001292/philadelphia-orchestra-renames-hall-after-marian-anderson?utm_id=11998314&orgid=374&utm_att1=
