Black Americans were first brought to America in 1620, after England legalized slavery in England and the colonies, and slavery grew for about 150 years while King Cotton built a distinct southern way of life. On January 1, 1863, the emancipation proclamation took effect, and after war and upheaval the nation in 1865 took a new stand for freedom for all people, backed by constitutional amendments intended to end discrimination based on race, color, or previous servitude. Yet the account argues that Black America still remained chained by injustice, with even the most honored Black citizens subject to exclusion and humiliation. Marian Anderson's barring from Constitution Hall and her later Easter Sunday performance before the Lincoln Memorial, heard by seventy-five thousand people, stood as a powerful example of both prejudice and public protest. The account contends that democracy, national health, Christian morality, and full prosperity cannot exist while a great group is kept ignorant, impoverished, segregated, and denied fair opportunity. It calls for the promises of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to become reality for thirteen million Black Americans, and it invokes the spirits of Lincoln and Christ in urging the nation to cast down the last barrier to perfect freedom.