On April 9, 1939, Mary steps onto the stage at the Lincoln Memorial and surveys the vast, integrated crowd awaiting contralto Marian Anderson. She wishes Eleanor were present and takes her seat among prominent supporters, reflecting on how the day began with a request months earlier.

Mary recalls inviting Eleanor to her home in January to seek help after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused Constitution Hall to Howard University’s Marian Anderson benefit because of Anderson’s race. Eleanor, initially wary of another appeal, quickly committed. Together they built a coalition—Walter White and the NAACP, the NCNW, church leaders, and activists—forming the Marian Anderson Citizens Committee, driving petitions, protests, and press coverage to shame the DAR.

Even as newspapers turned and thousands resigned from the DAR, the organization would not relent, despite Eleanor even timing a potential performance during the upcoming royal visit. Eleanor then advanced an alternative: move the event to the Lincoln Memorial. For safety and to avoid overshadowing Anderson, Eleanor chose to stay away from the concert itself.

Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes walks out with Marian Anderson to thunderous applause. Before the microphones, he declares, "In this great auditorium under the sky, all of us are free," and affirms that genius draws no color lines. Mary recognizes the moment: an integrated audience, a federal official’s public endorsement of equality, and a palpable shift in America’s trajectory.