Last updated: December 14, 2022
Place
District of Columbia: Mitchell Jamieson Mural
Photo by Carol M. Highsmith, Public Domain. Digital image has been cropped to show top 1/2 of mural.
Quick Facts
Location:
Stewart Lee Udall Department of the Interior Building, 1849 C Street NW, Washington, DC
Significance:
Mural commemorates Marian Anderson's 1939 performance at the Lincoln Memorial
Designation:
African American Civil Rights Network
MANAGED BY:
Mitchell Jamieson (1915-1976) was an American painter known for his illustrations and watercolors and as a WWII combat artist. One of his most famous and enduring works of art is his 6 foot by 12 foot mural "An Incident in Contemporary American Life" (1943). Jamieson, who was 25 years old at the time, was selected by a panel of artists in 1940 to create a mural commemorating opera singer Marian Anderson's (1897-1993) famous performance in front of the Lincoln Memorial. The mural was intended to be displayed in the Department of the Interior building in downtown Washington, DC. Jamieson was paid for his work through the Marian Anderson Fund Committee, a collection of private contributions received from all over the United States.
The event commemorated in Jamieson's mural took place in 1939 when the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), an all-white organization of descendants of Revolutionary War soldiers, denied African American opera singer Marian Anderson the use of its concert hall, Constitution Hall.
At the time, Constitution Hall was the only venue in Washington, D.C. large enough to accommodate Anderson’s sizeable audience. Anderson's manager, Sol Hurok, attempted to book her for a performance in the hall, however the DAR refused to schedule Anderson on any of the dates Hurok requested, even though the same dates were open to white performers. In the early days of the venue, African-American audiences had been allowed to use a small section of the balcony to see black artists perform. That changed after a black artist refused to sing in the segregated auditorium. After that, DAR began to operate Constitution Hall under a whites-only performance contract.
As a result of the overt racial discrimination against Anderson, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the DAR, resulting in a media frenzy. Roosevelt wrote about her decision in her popular weekly column, "My Day." Other newspapers began to write editorials supporting Anderson, putting pressure on the DAR. However, the organization refused to change their position. In lieu of a performance at Constitution Hall, Mrs. Roosevelt and Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, along with National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's (NAACP) Executive Secretary Walter White organized an open-air concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939.
Standing in front of an integrated crowd of over 75,000 people, Anderson's first song was the patriotic ballad, “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” accompanied only by a piano. The entire concert lasted 25 minutes and was broadcast by radio to millions of people across the United States.
The mural is still on display at the Stewart Lee Udall Department of Interior Building in Washington, DC and can be seen by scheduling a tour with the Department of the Interior Museum. For more information click on the "Managed By" link on the right side of the web page.
The mural was added to the African American Civil Rights Network in February 2018.
The African American Civil Rights Network (AACRN) recognizes the civil rights movement in the United States and the sacrifices made by those who fought against discrimination and segregation. Created by the African American Civil Rights Act of 2017, and coordinated by the National Park Service, the Network tells the stories of the people, places, and events of the U.S. civil rights movement through a collection of public and private elements.