LENOX — Unearthing “The Marian Anderson Album of Songs and Spirituals” inspired Andrea Goodman to devote an annual concert honoring Martin Luther King Jr. to also honor the memory of the contralto.

About Eighty-seven years ago — on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939 — Anderson sung on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow her to perform in Constitution Hall because of her race.

Andrea Goodman conducts the Cantilena Chamber Choir as it performs its annual Martin Luther King Jr. Concert at Trinity Episcopal Church in Lenox on Sunday.

“The decision sparked national outrage,” Goodman told the audience of more than 100 at Trinity Episcopal Church in Lenox. “First lady Eleanor Roosevelt publicly resigned from the DAR in protest.”

Roosevelt and Harold Ickes, U.S. secretary of the interior, arranged for her to perform in front of the Reflecting Pool.

Anderson expected an audience of 3,000. Some 75,000 people packed Constitution Mall to hear her perform in what is considered the first national civil rights protest on the mall.

“The image of Anderson singing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial with the statue of Abraham Lincoln behind her became an iconic symbol of the Civil Rights Movement," Goodman said.

She later called it one of the most important moments of her life, Goodman said.

“Today we sing the music, the spirituals that Marian Anderson made famous,” Goodman said.

The concert opened with the first five minutes of the original NBC radio broadcast of the recording, starting with Ickes’ introduction of Anderson.

“Genius, like justice, is blind,” Ickes said. “For genius with the tip of her wing has touched this woman who, if it had not been for the great mind of Jefferson, if it had not been for the great heart of Lincoln, would not be able to stand among us today a free individual in a free land. Genius — genius draws no color line.”

The audience then heard Anderson’s first piece, “Trampin.’”

Cantilena Chamber Choir presents its annual Martin Luther King Jr. Concert at Trinity Episcopal Church in Lenox on Sunday.

The 22-voice Cantilena Chamber Choir, which Goodman directs, then did a rendition of the same spiritual a cappella, along with others.

Goodman invited Chorus Angelicus, a 16-person young people’s chorus from Torrington, Conn., to perform. That group sang songs from around the world, accompanied by Elizabeth Allyn and drummer Andrew Thomson. It is directed by Gordon Lofall.

The two choruses combined to perform three final songs, ending with “Freedom Trilogy” by Paul Halley.

The audience gave the singers and musicians a standing ovation following the final song.

As part of the commemoration of King, the top three winners of The Eagle’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day Essay Contest read their winning pieces.

Sienna Maruli, 16, a junior at Pittsfield High School, wrote a poem about being inclusive called “Performative.”

Among its lines were these: “To be themselves / not wear a mask just to enter / not hide identities / not bury their true selves / Because conformity / hurts.”

Plum Knudsen, 14, recites an essay she wrote that won first place in The Berkshire Eagle's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Essay Contest during an event at Trinity Episcopal Church in Lenox on Sunday.

Plum Knudsen, 14, a ninth-grader at Monument Mountain Regional High School, won first place with her essay titled “Inclusion.”

She spoke of the social challenges and pressures of entering high school.

“When students are not included or looked down upon because they don’t fit the ‘social media standards,’ this may cause depression and mental health disorders,” she said. “Social media becomes another source where teens can feel excluded. Their world is suddenly filled with who followed them or who didn’t, how many likes they have, and how many followers they have.”

Amelia Coco Gilardi, 17, recites an essay she wrote that won second place in The Berkshire Eagle's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Essay Contest during an event at Trinity Episcopal Church in Lenox on Sunday.

Amelia Coco Gilardi, a 17-year-old senior at Pittsfield High School, wrote an essay called “Four Years Ago,” in which she recounted her own social activism, inspired by King’s.

“This is what Martin Luther King Jr. asked of each of us,” she said. “To stand up, to speak out, to take relentless positive action.”

Quoting King, she said, “‘Our lives begin to end the day we become silent.’ So don’t wait. Don’t let fear or youth or age make you go silent. Start today.”

Andrea Goodman is married to Clarence Fanto, a reporter and columnist at The Berkshire Eagle.