Daughters of the American Revolution

 

(DAR), a Colonial patriotic society in the United States, open to women having one or more ancestors who aided the cause of the Revolution. The society was organized (1890) at Washington, D.C., and has its national headquarters at Memorial Continental Hall there. The society has done much for the preservation and marking of historic places. In politics, the DAR has been criticized for its conservative policies. There is a similar but unrelated organization known as the Daughters of the Revolution.

Bibliography

See studies by M. Strayer (1958, repr. 1973) and P. Anderson (1974).

The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership organization of women^[1] dedicated to promoting historic preservation, education, and patriotism. DAR chapters are involved in raising funds for local scholarships and educational awards, preserving historical properties and artifacts and promoting patriotism within their communities. DAR has chapters in all fifty of the U.S. states as well as in the District of Columbia. There are also DAR chapters in Australia, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Spain, and the United Kingdom. DAR's motto is "God, Home, and Country." Some state chapters of DAR date from as early as October 11, 1890, and the National Society of DAR was incorporated by Congressional charter in 1896.

Eligibility

The National Society of DAR is the final arbiter of the acceptability of all applications for membership. Membership in DAR is open to women at least eighteen years of age who can prove lineal bloodline descent from an ancestor who aided in achieving United States independence. Acceptable ancestors include various related categories of known historical figures, including:

• Signers of the United States Declaration of Independence;
• Military veterans of the American Revolutionary War, including State navies and militias, local militias, privateers, and French or Spanish soldiers and sailors who fought in the American theater of war;
• Civil servants of provisional or State governments;
• Members of the Continental Congress and State conventions and assemblies;
• Signers of Oaths of Allegiance or Oaths of Fidelity and Support;
• Participants in the Boston Tea Party;
• Prisoners of war, refugees, and defenders of forts and frontiers; doctors and nurses who aided Revolutionary casualties; and ministers, petitioners;
• And others who gave material or patriotic support to the Revolutionary cause.^[1]

The DAR does not discriminate based on race or religion, and welcomes all women with a provable blood line to revolutionary ancestors.^[1] The adopted daughter of a revolutionary descendant does not qualify through this adoptive parent, though she may qualify through the bloodline of her birth parent.

Marian Anderson controversy

Although the DAR now forbids discrimination in membership based on race or creed, some members held segregationist views when this was still public policy in the United States. In 1932 the DAR adopted a rule excluding African-American artists from the stage at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., built in 1929 by the DAR, following protests over "mixed seating"; blacks and whites seated together at concerts of black artists.^[2] In 1936, Sol Hurok, manager of African-American contralto Marian Anderson since 1935, attempted to book Anderson at Constitution Hall. Due to the "white performers only" policy, the booking was refused. Instead, Anderson performed at a Washington area black high school, and was also invited by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to perform for her and President Roosevelt. Eleanor had publicly resigned from the DAR when she heard that Marian Anderson was banned. During this time, Anderson came under considerable pressure from the NAACP to not perform for segregated audiences.^[3]

In 1939, Hurok, along with the NAACP and Howard University, petitioned the DAR to make an exception to the "white performers only" policy for a new booking, which was declined by the DAR. Hurok attempted to find a local high school for the performance, but the only suitable venue was an auditorium at a white high school. The school board, which was indirectly under the authority of the President, refused to allow Anderson to perform there.^[3] Eleanor Roosevelt immediately resigned her membership with the DAR, and sent the following letter to the society:

Dear Mrs. Henry M. Robert, Jr.:
I am afraid that I have never been a very useful member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. I know it will make very little difference to you whether I resign, or whether I continue to be a member of your organization.
However, I am in complete disagreement with the attitude taken in refusing Constitution Hall to a great artist. You have set an example which seems to me unfortunate, and feel obliged to send in to you my resignation. You had an opportunity to lead in an enlightened way and it seems to me that your organization has failed.
I realize that many people will not agree with me, but feeling as I do this seems to me the only proper procedure to follow.
Very sincerely yours,^[4]

DAR president Mrs. Henry M. Robert, Jr., sent the First Lady the following reply:

My dear Mrs. Roosevelt,
Your letter of resignation reaches me in Colorado upon my return from the far West. I greatly regret that you found this action necessary. Our society is engaged in the education for citizenship^[5]and the humanitarian service in which we know you to be vitally interested.
I am indeed sorry not to have been in Washington at this time. Perhaps I might have been able to remove some of the misunderstanding and to have presented to you personally the attitude of the society.
With best wishes always.
Very sincerely, ^[6]

Hurok and the NAACP again appealed to the DAR, and were again refused.^[7]

Later, the DAR apologized and welcomed Ms. Anderson to Constitution Hall on a number of occasions soon after 1939, including a benefit concert for war relief in 1942.^[8] Ms. Anderson chose Constitution Hall as the place where she would launch her farewell American tour in 1964.^[9] On January 27, 2005, the DAR co-hosted the first day of issue dedication ceremony of the Marian Anderson commemorative stamp with the U.S. Postal Service and Ms. Anderson's family.^[10]

Ferguson controversy

In March 1984, a new controversy erupted when Lena Lorraine Santos Ferguson said she had been denied membership in a Washington chapter of the DAR because she was black.

In a March 12 1984 Washington Post story,^[11] reporter Ronald Kessler quoted Ferguson’s two white sponsors, Margaret M. Johnston and Elizabeth E. Thompson, as saying that although Ferguson met the lineage requirements and could trace her ancestry to Jonah Gay, who helped the Revolutionary War effort as a member of a Friendship, Maine, town committee, fellow DAR members told them that Ferguson was not wanted because she was black.

What caused a sensation was a quote from Sarah M. King, the president general of the DAR. King told Kessler that each of the DAR’s more than 3,000 local chapters decides if it wishes to accept members.

Asked if the DAR considers discrimination against blacks by its local chapters to be acceptable, she said, “If you give a dinner party, and someone insisted on coming and you didn’t want them, what would you do?”

King continued, “Being black is not the only reason why some people have not been accepted into chapters. There are other reasons: divorce, spite, neighbors’ dislike. I would say being black is very far down the line . . . . There are a lot of people who are troublemakers. You wouldn’t want them in there because they could cause some problems.”

After those comments ran in a page one story and ignited a firestorm, the D.C. City Council threatened to revoke the DAR’s real estate tax exemption. As more publicity erupted, King acknowledged that Ferguson should have been admitted and said her application to join the DAR was handled “inappropriately.”

Representing Ferguson free of charge, lawyers from the old line Washington law firm of Hogan & Hartson began working with King to develop positive ways of insuring that blacks will not be discriminated against when applying for membership.

The DAR changed its bylaws to bar discrimination “on the basis of race or creed.” King announced a resolution to recognize “the heroic contributions of black patriots in the American Revolution.”

As a result of the Washington Post story, not only was Ferguson, a retired school secretary, admitted to the DAR, she became chairman and founder of the D.C. DAR Scholarship Committee

Ferguson died in March 2004 at the age of 75.

“I wanted to honor my mother and father as well as my black and white heritage,” Mrs. Ferguson told Kessler after being admitted. “And I want to encourage other black women to embrace their own rich history, because we’re all Americans.”

Famous Historical DAR Members

• Susan B. Anthony, American suffragist^[12]
• Clara Barton, American Red Cross founder^[12]
• Lillian Gish, American actress (Nee De Giche; Canadian born; Toronto)^[12]
• Grandma Moses, American folk artist^[12]
• Ginger Rogers, American actress and dancer^[12]
• Caroline Scott Harrison, First Lady of the USA^[12]
• Infanta Eulalia of Spain, Spanish princess and author^{[citation needed]}

Famous Living DAR members

• Dr. Betsy Boze, American Academic -- Chief Executive Officer and Dean, Kent State University Stark^[13]
• Elizabeth Dole, current US Senator from North Carolina^[14]
• Laura Bush, current First Lady of the United States^[15]

See also

This list contains related US organizations. There are at least 2 related organizations in Canada not shown that are similar to the DAR and SAR.

• The Colonial Dames of America
• The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America
• Sons of the American Revolution
• Children of the American Revolution (SAR)
• The Mayflower Society
• DAR Constitution Hall (a building owned by the society)
• United Daughters of the Confederacy
• Sons of Confederate Veterans
• Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War

Further reading

• Hunter, Ann Arnold. A Century of Service: The Story of the DAR. 1991, Washington, DC. National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.

External links

• Daughters of the American Revolution website
• Daughters of the American Revolution at americanrevolution.com
• Daughters of the American Revolution at the Open Directory Project

Notes

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This article contains text from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration website which, as a US government publication, is in the public domain.

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