Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing

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Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing — often called "The Black National Anthem" — was written as a poem by James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) and then set to music by his brother John Rosamond Johnson (1873-1954) in 1900. It was first performed in public in the Johnsons' hometown of Jacksonville, Florida as part of a celebration of Lincoln's Birthday on February 12, 1900 by a choir of 500 schoolchildren at the segregated Stanton School, where James Weldon Johnson was principal.

Singing this song quickly became a way for African Americans to demonstrate their patriotism and hope for the future. In calling for earth and heaven to "ring with the harmonies of Liberty," they could speak out subtly against racism and Jim Crow laws — and especially the huge number of lynchings accompanying the rise of the Ku Klux Klan at the turn of the century. In 1919, the NAACP adopted the song as "The Negro National Anthem." By the 1920s, copies of "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" could be found in black churches across the country, often pasted into the hymnals.

During and after the American Civil Rights Movement, the song experienced a rebirth, and by the 1970's was often sung immediately after The Star Spangled Banner at public events and performances across the United States where the event had a significant African-American population.

In 1990, singer Melba Moore released a modern rendition of the song, which she recorded along with others including R&B artists Anita Baker, Stephanie Mills, Dionne Warwick, Bobby Brown, Stevie Wonder, Jeffrey Osborne, and Howard Hewett; and gospel artists BeBe andCeCe Winans, Take 6, and The Clark Sisters. Partly because of the success of this recording, Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing was entered into the Congressional Record as the official African American National Hymn.

However, it should be noted that this song is not an "official" national anthem.

[edit] Lyrics

The first verse is the one most commonly heard.

Lift ev'ry voice and sing,

'Til earth and heaven ring,

Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;

Let our rejoicing rise

High as the list'ning skies,

Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,

Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;

Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,

Let us march on 'til victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,

Bitter the chastening rod,

Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;

Yet with a steady beat,

Have not our weary feet

Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?

We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,

We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,

Out from the gloomy past,

'Til now we stand at last

Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years,

God of our silent tears,

Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;

Thou who has by Thy might

Led us into the light,

Keep us forever in the path, we pray.

Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,

Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;

Shadowed beneath Thy hand,

May we forever stand,

True to our God,

True to our native land.

[edit] See also

• James Weldon Johnson

[edit] External links

• Lift Every Voice and Sing: A Celebration of the Negro National Anthem, edited by Julian Bond and Sondra Kathryn Wilson
• NPR's Performance Today page on Black History Month -- includes a link to a Real Player version of the song

Patriotic music of the United States

"America the Beautiful" • "Ballad of the Green Berets" • "Battle Cry of Freedom" • "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" • "Columbia, Gem of the Ocean" • "Eternal Father, Strong to Save" • "For The Dear Old Flag, I Die" • "God Bless America" • "God Bless the USA" • "Hail, Columbia" • "Hail to the Chief" • "The Liberty Bell" • "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" • "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" • "Over There" • "PT-109" • "Stars and Stripes Forever" • "The Star-Spangled Banner" • "There's a Star Spangled Banner Waving" • "This is My Country" • "This Land Is Your Land" • "Yankee Doodle" • "The Yankee Doodle Boy" • "You're a Grand Old Flag" • "Fifty Nifty United States" • "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" Armed services: "The Army Goes Rolling Along" • "Anchors Aweigh" • "The U.S. Air Force" • "Marines' hymn" • "Semper Paratus"