![]() ![]() O’er the land of the free and the home of the No refuge could save the hireling and slave.įrom the terror of flight or the gloom of theĪnd the Star-spangled Banner in triumph doth Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusionĪ home and a country should leave us no more? Where is that band who so vauntingly swore O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave? O! say, does that Star-spangled Banner still* wave Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming,Īnd the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, ![]() ![]() What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming: O! say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light, But in that version, we only hear the first verse and chorus, which are not controversial: For many, the “Star Spangled Banner” is the patriotic song we hear before basketball, baseball, and football games. “The ‘Star Spangled Banner’ is not racist!” But, these days especially, as I know I have learned over and over, it’s important to listen when Black folks speak about these matters. Reading those words may make some bristle. Hired by the British side during the Revolutionary War.” “I don’t know how much you know about the current NationalĪnthem,” Chanae says, “but it speaks despairingly about slaves and black people For Chanae, singing the song represents both the uplifting of Black American culture and Black American voices, but it also takes up space when the more traditional or mainstream “Star Spangled Banner” might be sung. On June 3, Seattle’s Rio Chanae sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing” on the steps of City Hall to a crowd of thousands, commemorating a week of marches protesting police brutality. (Beyoncé even added the song to her 2018 Coachella setlist.) For well over 100 years, the song has been sung and performed at important civil rights events around the world, from its inception in the early 20th century to today at protests and marches throughout the United States. In 1919, the NAACP adopted the song officially as the Black National Anthem. It was first publicly performed as a poem in celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was written in 1905 by the two brothers. Together, the two created one of the most important American songs in history. John was a musician, singer, and composer during the Harlem Renaissance. A poet and novelist, he rose to prominence during the Harlem Renaissance. He was a leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. James was a writer and civil rights activist. Born two years apart in 18, respectively, the two also became artistic collaborators. Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson were brothers. We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered, We have come over a way that with tears has been watered, Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us įacing the rising sun of our new day begun,įelt in the days when hope unborn had died Ĭome to the place for which our fathers sighed? Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us, It has become tradition to sing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” on Juneteenth. Since 1919, it has often been referred to as the Black national anthem, as dubbed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), for its power in voicing a cry for liberation and affirmation for African-American people. A prayer of thanksgiving for faithfulness and freedom, evocative of the biblical Exodus from slavery to the freedom of the Promised Land, it was publicly performed first as a part of a celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is a song written as a poem by James Weldon Johnson, an American writer and civil rights activist, in 1900 and set to music by his brother J.
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