The 1901 McMillan Plan for the Mall emphasized the role of the Civil War in American history with its plan for the construction of a memorial to Abraham Lincoln. Architect Henry Bacon designed the Lincoln Memorial and Daniel Chester French created the sculpture of Lincoln inside the memorial. Its builders intended the Lincoln Memorial as a dramatic object lesson in patriotism and reconciliation between the North and the South. It was planned for the western end of the Mall as not only the terminus to the Mall but also the beginning point for a memorial bridge into Virginia that physically and symbolically linked the North to the South. The keynote speeches at the dedication focused mostly on reconciliation. President Harding said, "The supreme chapter in history is not emancipation. Emancipation was a means to the great end — maintained unity and nationality." In his speech, the racial issues of the Civil War were basically ignored.

Once the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated in 1922, its meaning changed as people began to use the site for Civil Rights gatherings. The first major gathering at the Lincoln Memorial occurred on April 9th, Easter Sunday, 1939 when internationally renowned opera singer Marian Anderson sang on the steps of the memorial. The Daughters of the American Revolution had refused her the use of their concert hall because she was black. They said they were merely following local custom. Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the D.A.R. in protest. Walter White of the NAACP and other black leaders asked Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Interior, if Anderson could sing at the Lincoln Memorial. Ickes enthusiastically backed the idea. 75,000 came to hear Marian Anderson sing in what became known as the "Freedom Concert."

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