9 April 2014: Wednesday ... 75th anniversary of Marion Anderson's concert on the Mall in D.C. and birthday of Paul Robeson ... Mackie, short for Maxine, a most catholic of Catholics who calls herself Episcopal but is Unitarian in spirit ... visit from Christie of Nielsen Ratings Service ... Bark Park Journal photo team story ... continued walk in abandoned Pike Creek CC

Today is the 75th anniversary of Marian Anderson singing at the Lincoln Memorial to an overflow crowd on the mall in Washington, D.C., on the invitation of Eleanor Roosevelt and Harold Ickes, who introduced her to the crowd. It is also the birthday of Paul Robeson (b. 1898) ... what a wonderful confluence of two of the greatest singers of the 20th century, both African-Americans.

http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/media/marian-anderson-concert/?ar_a=1

On Easter Sunday 1939, Marian Anderson sang from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., before a crowd of 75,000 people. The concert was sponsored by Howard University, which first secured a high school auditorium for the event. Anderson's popularity led Howard to try to secure Constitution Hall, a large and impressive concert venue owned by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The DAR refused to allow an integrated crowd. At that point, first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes stepped in to help Howard organize the concert at the Lincoln Memorial.