Often hailed as “The Black National Anthem,” Lift Every Voice and Sing stands as a powerful hymn deeply embedded in American history and culture. Originally penned as a poem by James Weldon Johnson, a leader within the NAACP, in 1900, the song’s poignant words were given life through music composed by his brother, John Rosamond Johnson. The song’s inaugural public performance was delivered by a choir of 500 students at the segregated Stanton School in Jacksonville, Florida, where James Weldon Johnson served as principal, as a tribute to President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.
At the dawn of the 20th century, Johnson’s evocative lyrics became a resonant expression of the yearning for liberty among Black Americans. Woven with religious undertones and the promise of freedom, Lift Every Voice and Sing was later formally adopted by the NAACP. It rose to prominence as an inspiring anthem and a unifying call for justice during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, solidifying its place in the nation’s conscience.
Lift Every Voice and Sing Lyrics
*Lift every 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,*
*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.*Reflecting on the enduring power of Lift Every Voice and Sing, NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson stated, “It spoke to the history of the journey of African-Americans and for many Africans in the diaspora [who] struggled through to get to a place of hope.” This song continues to resonate deeply, carrying a legacy of resilience, faith, and the ongoing pursuit of freedom and equality.
