Sarah Corbin Robert

Robert was elected DAR President General in 1938, having run unopposed. The DAR celebrated its 50th anniversary during the Robert administration. Projects overseen by Roberts include funding for a new high-school facility at Tamassee DAR School, which would be completed in 1942 and named for her,[8] the continuation of the Penny Pines project to replant thousands of acres of trees in national forests, and the Valley Forge Bell Tower project at Washington Memorial Chapel in the Valley Forge National Historical Park, which installed 17 new bells.). She also represented the DAR at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City. With war on the horizon, Robert initiated War Relief Service Committees and encouraged chapter partnership with the American Red Cross.[7]

In 1939 Robert personally denied the use of DAR Constitution Hall to the famous black contralto Marian Anderson.[9] Anderson was singing as part of a concert series in Washington being organized by Howard University. Her fame required a large venue and the DAR Hall was the largest in the city. However, Robert cited segregation laws and longstanding agreements regarding segregation among D.C. performance venues as the reason for the denying use of the Hall. The concert was instead held at the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, but the DAR's decision created a backlash, including the resignation of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt from the organization.[7][10] Four years later, in 1942, the DAR invited Anderson to perform in Constitution Hall in the Army Emergency Relief Fund concert series hosted there. Negotiations resulted in that concert being integrated, but Anderson was unsuccessful in negotiating for the promise of future integrated events. Anderson went on to perform at Continental Hall in 1953 and 1956, and the DAR awarded her the Centennial Medal in 1992 for outstanding service to the nation.[11]