'Lift Every Voice and Sing' a.k.a 'The Black National Anthem': What It Is, What It Is Not

James Weldon Johnson wrote “Lift Every Voice and Sing” in 1900 not to create an alternative to the national anthem. This is obvious because “The Star-Spangled Banner” did not become the national anthem until 1931. It was 1919 when the NAACP coined Johnson’s song “The Negro National Anthem.” James Weldon wrote the poem, and his brother, John Rosamond, set it to music in honor of Abraham Lincoln.

Why all the drama about the song recently? Following the NFL’s decision to make it a part of the pre-game festivities, many are becoming aware of it for the first time, apparently, and it has sparked comments and tweets (or are they now called Xes?) from people who have been out of the loop. And the loop is this: black people and others who have ventured beyond their limited worlds have been singing this song while sitting in diapers and eating baby food. It is a staple in churches, graduations, school assemblies, community events, family reunions—you name it.

No, I do not believe it should be used as a political prop or pandering tool at sporting events where it is customary to sing the national anthem. But let me tell you how completely misguided people screaming, “We only have one national anthem!” are. I can assure you this: of all the countless times people, black people in particular, have been singing it, not once have we spent time thinking of this song as a replacement for the nation’s anthem. Not one time did I even fixate on what the NAACP coined it. For me, as it is for probably every single other person who has known the song before five minutes ago, when some folks first encountered it—it is a beautiful song that speaks of the struggles of the past, the appreciation for the present, and the commitment to the future.

Perhaps if Kari Lake, Megyn Kelly, Rep. Matt Gaetz, and whoever else has whined about not having two anthems; refused to stand; and Xed about boycotting the Super Bowl, actually listened to the words, they would come to understand why the song is sung so often (not just at a football game) and why it is and has been an inspiration to people for more than a century.

Here are all the words—so powerful and so hopeful. And, it should be lost on no one, so fitting to have been written as a tribute to Abraham Lincoln, of all presidents.

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 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 till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chast’ning 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,
Till 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 hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who hast 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.

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