The Soultown! Volume IV: Issue 1 JANUARY 2020 | Page 6

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Lift Every Voice and Sing
Push Black
“Lift Every Voice And Sing” was originally written as a poem by James Weldon Johnson, and his brother John
wrote the music. The very first performance of the poem was by Florida schoolchildren in 1900. By 1919, it
had become so popular that the NAACP chose it as their official song. Thus, the “Negro National Anthem” was
born. Its designation as an unofficial “national anthem” has been controversial - many civil rights leaders
felt it was divisive to have two anthems. But not many know that there’s a third verse of the “Star-Spangled
Banner” - written by the VERY pro-slavery Francis Scott Key - that references hunting down and killing slaves!
It makes sense to have our anthem - one that does justice to our history. The Negro National Anthem has
a somber reflection on our people’s trials and toils, as well as hope for a brighter future, when “Earth and
heaven ring with the harmonies of liberty!” This hope - and the song’s relevance - have stayed with us to
this day! ,
https://youtu.be/_Rn4Xh99dd4
Beyoncé brought Lift Every Voice And Sing to the world with her historic 2018 Coachella performance.
It was historic for the unapologetic Blackness she displayed. While most of us are familiar with the
Negro National Anthem, it’s still so significant to Black culture. ,
Lift every voice and sing
Till 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 faith that the dark past has
tought 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 till victory is won
Stony the road we trod
Bitter the chast’ning rod
Felt in the day that hope unborn had died
Yet with a steady beat
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place on witch 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, till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our 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 the hand
May we forever stand
True to our God
True to our native land
Poem/song by James Weldon Johnson, and his brother John.
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Jan. 2020 • Immortalizing Our Stories to Implore Positive Progress In Our Communities • thesoultown.com