African Americans On December 3, 1896,
Eunice Russ Ames Davis, a multiracial abolitionist and founding member of the
Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, joined the Old South Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in
Boston, Massachusetts. She was of African,
Narragansett Indian,
Penobscot, and European ancestry and the daughter of American revolutionary Prince Ames. She was presented with a gold spoon by the DAR, as a "Real Daughter of the Revolution", on her 97th birthday. In 1939, they denied permission for
Marian Anderson to perform a concert at the hall. First Lady
Eleanor Roosevelt, a DAR member, resigned from the organization in protest. , soprano and CEO of the
Marian Anderson Museum and Historical Society, performing at DAR Constitution Hall in 2023. In her letter to the DAR, Roosevelt wrote, "I am in complete disagreement with the attitude taken in refusing Constitution Hall to a great artist...You had an opportunity to lead in an enlightened way and it seems to me that your organization has failed." African-American author
Zora Neale Hurston criticized Roosevelt's refusal to condemn the
Board of Education of Washington, D.C.'s simultaneous decision to exclude Anderson from singing at the
segregated white
Central High School. Hurston declared "to jump the people responsible for racial bias would be to accuse and expose the accusers themselves. The District of Columbia has no home rule; it is controlled by
congressional committees, and
Congress at the time was overwhelmingly
Democratic. It was controlled by the very people who were screaming so loudly against the DAR. To my way of thinking, both places should have been denounced, or neither." As the controversy grew, American media overwhelmingly backed Anderson's right to sing.
The Philadelphia Tribune, an African American newspaper in
Philadelphia, wrote, "A group of tottering old ladies, who don't know the difference between patriotism and putridism, have compelled the gracious First Lady to apologize for their national rudeness." The
Richmond Times-Dispatch wrote, "In these days of racial intolerance so crudely expressed in the Third Reich, an action such as the D.A.R.'s ban... seems all the more deplorable". At Eleanor Roosevelt's behest,
President Roosevelt and
Walter White, then-executive secretary of the
NAACP, and Anderson's manager, impresario
Sol Hurok arranged an open-air concert on the steps of the
Lincoln Memorial with a dignified and stirring rendition of "
America (My Country, 'Tis of Thee)". The event attracted a crowd of more than 75,000 in addition to a national radio audience of millions. In 1952, DAR reversed its "white performers only" policy. In 1977,
Karen Batchelor Farmer (now Karen Batchelor) from
Detroit, was admitted to the Ezra Parker Chapter in
Royal Oak, Michigan as the first known DAR
African American member. Batchelor's admission as the first known African American member of DAR sparked international interest after it was featured in a story on page one of
The New York Times. In 1984,
Lena Lorraine Santos Ferguson, a retired school secretary, was denied membership in a
Washington, D.C. chapter of the DAR because she was Black, according to a report by
The Washington Post. Ferguson met the lineage requirements and could trace her ancestry to Jonah Gay, a white man who fought in Maine. Since the mid-1980s, the DAR has supported a project to identify African Americans, Native Americans, and individuals of mixed race who were patriots of the American Revolution, expanding their recognition beyond soldiers. In 2004,
Maria Williams-Cole and Arleathia Carter Williams became the first two African-American members of the DAR in
Prince George's County, Maryland. In 2008, DAR published
Forgotten Patriots: African-American and American Indian Patriots in the Revolutionary War. In 2018,
Reisha Raney became the first black woman elected to serve as a DAR state officer in Maryland. She previously served on the national level of the organization as the vice chairwoman of the membership committee division. In September 2018, Sonja Addison, Stephannie Addison-Mudd, and Brooke Addison Moore became the first African-American members of the Fauquier Court House Chapter of the DAR in
Fauquier County, Virginia. In June 2019,
Wilhelmena Rhodes Kelly became the first African American elected to the DAR National Board of Management when she was installed as New York State Regent. In 2022,
Sheryl Sims became the first African-American woman to join the Nelly Custis Chapter of the DAR in
Alexandria, Virginia. In September 2022,
Sharon Fort became the first African-American woman to join the DAR in Arkansas. In December 2022, DAR donated $150,000 to the
Marian Anderson Museum to help with restoration costs following flood damage to the building in 2020. In October 2023,
Johnette Gordon-Weaver became the first African-American member of the
Williamsburg chapter of the DAR. Gordon Weaver is a descendant of Anthony Roberts, the first
free African-American patriot recognized by the organization at the national level. On June 28, 2025, the DAR presented the DAR Media and Entertainment Award to
Tyler Perry Studios for the war drama film
The Six Triple Eight, based on the predominantly-Black
6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion of the
Women's Army Corps during
World War II.
Jews As the DAR does not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, or religion, Jewish women may join the organization. The DAR keeps a record in their archives of Jewish patriots of the American Revolution, including
Solomon Bush,
David Emanuel,
Myer Myers,
Abigail Minis,
Benjamin Nones,
Jonas Phillips,
Haym Salomon,
Gershom Mendes Seixas, and
Mordecai Sheftall. A spokesperson for the DAR responded to questions by stating that the organization is a non-partisan, non-sectarian organization and "cannot possibly support as a matter of national policy any attack upon any other group of Americans by reason of their race, creed or color". Reeves accepted responsibility for allowing Strack to speak and stated that she had no prior knowledge of the contents of the speech. In 1957, guest speaker Rear Admiral
John G. Crommelin made anti-semitic remarks at a DAR event in
Pensacola, Florida, prompting members of the organization to walk out. President General
Allene Wilson Groves spoke out against persecution of minorities following the incident. Former president
Gerald Ford attended the exhibit's opening. At Continental Congress, Jennifer Mease, a delegate and Regent of the Liberty Bell Chapter in
Pennsylvania, inquired whether chapters could vote against admitting a new member "whose birth certificate has been altered by their state to indicate they are female even though they were born a male". President General Wright responded to Mease's inquiry by stating "if a person's certified birth certificate states 'female,' they are eligible for membership, and your chapter cannot change that" and "if their birth certificate says they are a female, and you vote against them based on their protected class, it's discrimination." A retired
United States Air Force colonel, who is a transgender woman, joined the Daughters of the American Revolution in New Jersey in 2022. == Notable members ==