Words by Lanie Anderson
Imagery provided by University of Pennsylvania Special Collections

We. The word can have powerful implications depending on its context, and so it did on April 9, 1939, when contralto Marian Anderson sang her own rendition of “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

When Anderson arrived at the third line of the familiar song, she belted “to thee we sing” rather than the original lyric, “of thee I sing.” The audience—a sea of tens of thousands that stretched from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument—might have considered the lyrics a misstep in her performance, but Anderson’s alteration was purposeful.

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