Lift Every Voice and Sing” was publicly performed first as part of a celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. The song is a prayer of thanksgiving for faithfulness and freedom, with imagery lift others up the biblical Exodus from slavery to the freedom of the “promised land. It is featured in 39 different Christian hymnals, and is sung in churches across North America.
It was added to the National Recording Registry in 2016. The 1939 film Keep Punching features the song. In Maya Angelou’s 1969 autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the song is sung by the audience and students at Maya’s eighth-grade graduation, after a white school official dashes the educational aspirations of her class. In 1972, Kim Weston sang the song as the opening number for the Wattstax Festival at the Coliseum in Los Angeles. This performance was included in the film Wattstax made by Wolper Films. The 1989 film Do the Right Thing features a 30-second cover of the song, played on a solo saxophone by Branford Marsalis, during the opening logos. In 2008, jazz singer Rene Marie was asked to perform the national anthem at a civic event in Denver, Colorado, where she caused a controversy by substituting the words of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” into the song.
On January 20, 2009, the Rev. On September 24, 2016, the song was sung by mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves and chorus at the conclusion of the opening ceremonies of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, at which Obama delivered the keynote address. On October 19, 2017, when white supremacist leader Richard Spencer spoke at the University of Florida, the university’s carillon played “Lift Every Voice and Sing” to convey a message of unity. On April 14, 2018, Beyoncé included the song in the setlist of her concert at Coachella and as part of the resultant concert film and live album. On July 2, 2020, the National Football League announced that the song would be played or performed live before the national anthem during the entirety of Week 1 of the 2020 regular season.
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea. Let us march on ’til victory is won. Come to the place for which our fathers died. Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
Keep us forever in the path, we pray. NFL plans to play Black national anthem before Week 1 games”. Society It’s Time for a New Black National Anthem”. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Chronicle”, The New York Times, April 18, 1990. Poetic License Raises a Star-Spangled Debate”. On this Juneteenth, watch two musical events celebrating African American history”.
