By Jessica MasonJan 18th, 2021, 5:55 pm
The Lincoln Memorial is iconic in the history of the Civil Rights movement. It was on the steps of the memorial to the President who signed the emancipation proclamation that Martin Luther King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech (which this country continues to view through a sanitized lens) during the March on Washington in 1963. And just 24 years prior, the Memorial was the sight of another watershed moment for civil rights and the fight against racial prejudice and segregation that is often forgotten: the groundbreaking concert from singer Marian Anderson on April 9, 1939.
In 1939, Marian Anderson was at the height of her operatic career. The contralto had sung on stages across Europe to immense acclaim and “Marian fever” from fans, finding greater success there than she had in American due to racism, but her star was now rising in the US as well. Since 1935, Anderson had given an annual concert at historically Black Howard Uni
By Ray Hill
The fascination with royal families is hardly new. I well remember just how many people were caught up in the wedding of Prince Charles to Diana Spencer. Like every capital of a civilized country, Washington, D.C. has a vibrant social life and the visit of King George VI and his queen, Elizabeth, to the United States captivated much of the country. Those folks who have watched The Crown on Netflix realize their daughter is Queen Elizabeth II.
The invitation to visit America had come from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and it was heralded throughout the media of the day for no reigning British monarch had ever trod on American soil. The United States and Great Britain had something of a checkered history since the Colonies broke away from the British Empire. The Capitol still carries scars from the War of 1812 when President James Madison and First Lady Dolly Madison had to flee before British troops burned down the White House. Relations between the
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