Living Museum

For sure, the Lincoln Memorial counts for MAD - and since MAD makes the rules, a concert on the steps of the Memorial counts too.

The concert, part of the Lincoln Bicentennial Rededication Series was really a living museum. Today's Marian Anderson Tribute Concert was held in honor of the 70th anniversary of the concert performed by Marian Anderson on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday 1939 after she had been denied permission to since at DAR Constitution Hall and D.C.'s Central High School. Along with performances by the U.S. Marine Band, Sweet Honey in the Rock and the Chicago Children's Choir, Denyce Graves sang the first three songs that Marian Anderson sang that day. She began with America, a simple song that U.S. schoolchildren sing semi-automatically, and ripped my heart right open. Under startlingly blue skies, with the Daniel French Chester statue of Lincoln looking on, her voice filled me and for a few minutes left me with room for nothing else.

Following the music Lincoln also got to see and hear as over 200 immigrants from 52 countries were sworn in as the U.S.'s newest citizens right there at the Lincoln Memorial. Colin Powell welcomed them. So did the rest of us.