Sarah Corbin Robert Explained

Sarah Corbin Robert
Birth Date:26 August 1886
Birth Place:Pennsylvania, U.S.
Death Place:Annapolis, Maryland, U.S.
Resting Place:Saint Anne's Cemetery
17th DAR President General, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution
Term Start:1938
Term End:1941
Predecessor:Florence Hague Becker
Successor:Helena R. Pouch
Parents:William Wallace Corbin
Emma Flora Hamilton
Spouse:Henry Martyn Robert Jr.
Children:1
Education:Syracuse University
Signature:Sarah Corbin Robert signature.png

Sarah Emily Corbin Robert served as the 17th President General of the Daughters of the American Revolution and was a noted authority on parliamentary procedure.

Personal life

Sarah was born on 26 August 1886[1] in Pennsylvania, the daughter of William Wallace Corbin and Emma Flora Hamilton. She married Henry Martyn Robert Jr., son of Henry Martyn Robert and Helen M Thresher, on 26 August 1919 in Tioga County, New York. Their son was Henry Martyn Robert III. She died on 1 May 1972 in Annapolis, Maryland and is buried at Saint Anne's Cemetery.[2]

Education and professional life

She graduated from Owego Free Academy in 1905, and Syracuse University in 1909. Robert taught American History in New York and New Jersey high schools for a decade. She was an authority on parliamentary procedure, teaching courses on parliamentary law at Columbia University, the University of Maryland, and The United States Naval Academy.[3] She holds the honorary degree of Doctor of Literature.[4]

She served as a trustee for Robert’s Rules of Order, whose creator, Henry Martyn Robert, was her father-in-law. She was head of the authorship team for the 7th edition, printed in 1970.[5] [6]

DAR membership

Robert joined the Stewart Tea Party Chapter in 1921, where she soon served in a variety of roles, including Chapter Regent. She also served as Maryland State Recording Secretary, as national chairman on Patriotic Education (1926–1929), as chairman of the Credentials Committee (1931–1934), and as Treasurer General (1935-1938). She was an advocate for both DAR Schools and standardization and simplification of DAR publications and practices, such as registration at Continental Congress.[7]

DAR President General Administration

The Golden Jubilee Administration

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.

Marian Anderson controversy

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.[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]

Other associations

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Robert, Sarah Corbin, President National, Daughters of the American Revolution . Downs . Winfield Scott . Encyclopedia of American Biography: New Series . 12 . New York . American Historical Society . 1941 . 402–403 . 649569887 . https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89080535578&view=1up&seq=956 . .
  2. News: Associated Press . Mrs. Robert, Procedural Authority . . Allentown, PA . 4 May 1972 . 3 October 2020. newspapers.com.
  3. Web site: O'Donnell . Joy . Arranging and Describing the Papers of President General Sarah Corbin Robert . January 23, 2019 . DAR Blog . October 3, 2020.
  4. Web site: Sarah Corbin Robert . U.S. Naval Institute.
  5. Web site: The Authors . Robert's Rules of Order.
  6. Book: Robert . Sarah Corbin . Robert . Henry M. . 1970 . Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised . Glenview, Ill. . Scott, Foresman . 779007541 .
  7. Book: National Society Daughters of the American Revolution . The Wide Blue Sash . 2013 . National Society Daughters of the American Revolution . 2nd . 1024316860 . 9781892237163 .
  8. News: DAR To Dedicate School Building . . October 25, 1942 . October 3, 2020 . newspapers.com .
  9. Web site: Robbins . Hollis . Profits of Order . BLARB . 30 September 2019 . LA Review of Books . 25 October 2022.
  10. Web site: Stamberg . Susan . April 9, 2014 . Denied A Stage, She Sang For A Nation . NPR. October 3, 2020.
  11. Web site: Katz . Jamie . April 9, 2014 . Four Years After Marian Anderson Sang at the Lincoln Memorial, D.A.R. Finally Invited Her to Perform at Constitution Hall . Smithsonian Magazine. October 3, 2020.