An Incident in Contemporary American Life

"An Incident in Contemporary American Life," by Mitchell Jamieson, tempera on canvas, 1942. When prominent African-American vocalist Marian Anderson was banned from performing at the Daughters of the American Revolution's Constitution Hall because of her race, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the DAR in protest and was determined to find an alternate venue for the concert. Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes invited Anderson to hold a free concert, and on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939, at the Lincoln Memorial, she performed for 75,000 people. Depicted here, Anderson--surrounded by government officials--is a pinpoint on the steps of the Memorial. Jamieson concentrates on the diverse crowd and the emotions apparent on their faces to emphasize the importance of the concert. Unlike most of the artists with works in the Interior Building, Jamieson was selected out of 171 entries of a scored contest.

An Incident in Contemporary American Life