By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on February 10, 2025
An Editorial Opinion
On Sunday, Grammy Award-winning artist Ledisi sang the hymn “Lift Every Voice and Sing” ahead of Super Bowl LIX at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. Most black Americans regard this song as the "Negro National Anthem."
Many white Americans have had the luxury of ignoring this song because they never knew the "Lift Every Voice and Sing" or never considered its importance in American history.
History of the "Negro National Anthem"
The “Negro National Anthem” was sung in every segregated black school across the U.S. each morning during the long, dark, and violent Jim Crow era in America. The song was written by James Weldon Johnson in 1900 at the beginning of the Jim Crow era.
The song was performed for the first time by a choir of 500 school children in Jacksonville, Florida not long after it was written. The NAACP dubbed “Lift Every Voice and Sing” as the "Negro National Anthem" in 1919, which was 13 years before "The Star Spangled Banner" was adopted by Congress in 1931 as the "National Anthem."
The doctrine of "Separate but Equal," as proclaimed by the U.S. Supreme Court, ruled in America from 1896 to 1964. There was a "White America" and "Black America" during this period that was sanctioned by law. The vestiges of this racial divided America are present today in every aspect of American society.
I sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing” every morning in my all-Black K-12 classes until I graduated from high school in Montgomery, Alabama in May 1966.
When court-ordered desegregation occurred across the nation in the late 1960s and 1970s, most black public schools were closed. White administrators who ran the nation’s school systems forbade black students from singing the "Negro National Anthem" at their newly assigned desegregated schools.
Like so many positive aspects of black culture, the “Negro National Anthem” became a casualty of the school desegregation process. The same was true for academic awards and sports trophies earned by the men/women of honor at closed black high schools.
The value of this black history and memorabilia has been completely disregarded by most white Americans, particularly in the Deep South.
The Song’s Lyrics are Powerful
Here are the lyrics to “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing:”
“Lift ev’ry 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 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
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.”
The "Negro National Anthem" helped an entire race of downtrodden black Americans endure: (a) the suffocating oppression and sweltering heat of Jim Crow segregation laws in the Deep South, (b) the Ku Klux Klan lynchings, beatings, cross burnings, house and church bombings, and (c) the entrenched systemic racial discrimination against blacks in every aspect of society, from the "cradle to the grave."
This song encouraged us to lift our voices and sing until freedom rang out across America. It is as sacred to Black America as the “Star Spangled Banner” is to White America.
The "Negro National Anthem’s" Relevance Today
I realize that tens of millions of white Americans dislike the idea of America showing any respect for the "Negro National Anthem." Ledisi's performance of the song during the pre-game activities has created a social media frenzy.
Today, many white Americans in today's MAGA Movement simply don’t want to be bothered with learning anything related to black history and culture. These whites characterize the singing of the "Negro National Anthem" as "wokeness," which they view as another form of "evil" DEI policies and programs.
I consider their aversion to learning black history and culture to be a form of willful ignorance and malicious disrespect.
I believe it is fitting and proper that the “Negro National Anthem” and “Star Spangled Banner” be sung at all NFL games. The NFL, which is comprised of 80% black players and 32 white NFL team owners, is paying its respect to both iconic cultures.
Right now, most white Americans know very little about black history, culture, and our positive contributions to American society. As the ruling class in America for 400 years, white Americans have never had to know this information.
The only question I have for white Americans who were offended by Ledisi's singing of the "Negro National Anthem" is this: Did your bloodline help to liberate my black ancestors from slavery, Black Codes, and Jim Crow laws, or was your bloodline part of the group that oppressed us?
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