Talk:DAR Constitution Hall

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The controversy regarding Marian Anderson has been presented in the article as "oft-mistold". This seems to imply that the lack of racial motivation is well-established historical fact. However, the truth is far from being as clear cut as the article makes it out to be. The Constituitional Hall was originally open to everyone, and did indeed performances by coloured artists. The facts in the article are therefore correct, but misleading, since the performance by Roland Hayes happened before the "whites only" policy was instituted. The clause was inserted as a result of an executive committee decision on March 23, 1932, after the performance by Roland Hayes was associated with some unpleasantness.

The official line of the DAR is indeed that the performance was refused because of a prior booking. However, apparently that date was not the only time that Marian Anderson was refused. In any case, it is very difficult nearly 70 years later what the relevance of the different statements made by different people were. The New York Times published an excellent article[1] in 1993 discussing the controversy and, while not conclusive, it seems on the balance that the refusal was likely to have been racially motivated. --Shanky (talk) 13:18, 22 March 2008 (UTC)

Has the D.A.R. Public Relations Department told the truth here, or have they lied to protect their image? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.92.6.186 (talk) 02:50, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] WikiProject class rating

This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as stub, and the rating on other projects was brought up to Stub class. BetacommandBot 15:19, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

On January 30, 2008, the DAR Public Relations department expanded this stub entry with facts about DAR and past events, and corrected factual errors regarding seating capacity. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.36.105.130 (talk) 19:34, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Dispute Resolution

I would not rely on a 1993 New York Times article to resolve the controversy. Are there any contemporary news accounts that describe the matter? What do they say? The fact that Eleanor Roosevelt resigned her membership is highly persuasive and suggests that Ms. Anderson was refused on account of her race. If it was simply a scheduling matter, couldn't someone have explained that to Mrs. Roosevelt, and either prevented her resignation, or secured its withdrawal?

John Paul Parks (talk) 22:35, 5 April 2008 (UTC)