George Marshall said:

>It's a long book covering several generations and, in the background,
>a swathe of modern history, yet it revolves round a single (actual
>historical) event. In 1939 an attempt was made to arrange a concert
>by Marian Anderson in Constitution Hall in Washington.  The Daughters
>of the American Revolution, owners of the hall, decided that the time
>was not ready for what we would now call an African American, however
>distinguished, to appear in the hall.  "Sometime in the future" writes
>the narrator of the novel, "Or shortly thereafter".  So, with the support
>of Mrs Roosevelt, Marian Anderson gave a free concert at the Lincoln
>Memorial.

I've put a hold on "The Time of our Singing" at the library and look
forward to reading it.

I was a junior member (under 35) of the DAR for a few years (one of the
treasured few 'youngsters') which I had joined out of interest in the
fact that one of my ancestors (Abijah Weatherall) had been a courier and
possibly spy for Gen.  Washington).  I soon began to realize, though,
that there were countless others who would find great difficulty tracing
their records back to the Revolutionary War (the credential for joining)
because their ancestors had been slaves, and records were sparse.  Even
worse, there was no impetus in the DAR at that time to assist them.  Then
I found out what had happened to Marian Anderson at Constitution Hall
and resigned.  Needless to say, I've never regretted it, and have never
since joined any 'exclusive' organization.

Pamela McElwain-Brown
Minneapolis, MN USA