Latest / Voices Of Life / Did You Know? - The "Black National Anthem" That Wasn't: The Untold Story of “Lift Every Voice and Sing”

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Did You Know? - The "Black National Anthem" That Wasn't: The Untold Story of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” · Voices Of Life

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  There are stories we remember, and there are
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  stories we forget. Moments that changed a nation,
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  changed a church, changed a generation. The most
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  fascinating stories are the ones we never learned.
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  To Voices of Life, Did You Know series. A journey
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  through history, where remarkable people, extraordinary
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  events, faith, freedom, courage, sacrifice, and
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  the unexpected. Pages of American history, of
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  the church, from famous names. Hello my friends,
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  I'm Pastor David, and welcome to another edition
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  of Did You Know? Presented by Voices of Life,
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  a ministry of the Church for Life. Today we're
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  going to take a look at a song that almost everybody
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  has heard about, but whose original history many
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  Americans may not know. The song is Lift Every
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  Voice and Sing. Since 2020, it has been called
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  the Black National Anthem when it was brought
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  to the stage by the National Football League.
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  But, did James Weldon Johnson, the author of
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  this song, actually call it that? Did his brother?
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  Was that what appeared on the early sheet music?
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  Was that what the composition was originally
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  created to be? The surviving historical documents
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  give us an opportunity to answer those questions.
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  And the answers may surprise you. So let's begin
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  with something historians should always treasure.
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  A primary source. We start with the original
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  document. And to put this in perspective, Mr.
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  Weldon wrote this originally as a poem. It was
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  his brother that put it to music. But why is
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  a primary source so important? It's not somebody's
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  recollection, not a modern article, not a political
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  interpretation and ideology. It's a surviving
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  manuscript. James Weldon Johnson wrote the words
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  that eventually became known as Lift Every Voice
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  and Sing. And Yale University Library, which
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  preserves the historical material, tells us something
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  extraordinarily important. Johnson titled his
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  manuscript National Hymn, and Johnson wrote on
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  it, written for the celebration of Lincoln's
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  birthday, Jacksonville, Florida, 1900. Let's
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  stop there, because those words matter. Lincoln's
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  birthday. Jacksonville, Florida. That was the
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  occasion. That's what he wrote it for. So why
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  Abraham Lincoln? Well, think about what Lincoln
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  represented to black Americans at the beginning
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  of the 20th century. Emancipation. Freedom. Union.
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  A nation that had survived a civil war. The Library
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  of Congress confirms that the composition was
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  performed at Stanton School's Lincoln Birthday
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  Assembly in 1900. So when someone asked, what
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  was the original historical setting of Lift Every
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  Voice and Sing, we don't have to speculate. It
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  was created for a celebration of Abraham Lincoln's
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  birthday. Now let's talk about the Johnson brothers.
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  James Weldon Johnson wrote the words. He thought
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  of it as a poem, but his younger brother, J.
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  Rosamund Johnson, supplied the music. Yale University
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  Library specifically identifies J. Rosamond Johnson
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  as the brother who set the words to the music.
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  The composition was then performed by school
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  children. The NAACP itself records approximately
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  500 school children participated in the first
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  public performance at Stanton School celebrating
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  Abraham Lincoln's birthday. But just to clarify
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  for accuracy, the NAACP was not in existence
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  in 1900. It actually began in 1909. Approximately
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  500 school children may be right or may not be
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  right. Just wanted to have that for clarification.
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  But either way, let's say it is 500 children.
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  They were in Jacksonville, Florida, and it was
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  for their Lincoln Celebration Assembly honoring
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  Abraham Lincoln's birthday. Remember those facts
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  because we're going to jump forward 120 years.
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  So let's talk about what it was called. This
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  brings us to... One of the most important parts
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  of today's program. What was the composition
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  actually called? Johnson's manuscript says National
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  Hymn. Then we have another remarkable piece of
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  documentary and evidence. The historical sheet
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  music that we're examining today. And what is
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  printed across the top of the music sheet. Not
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  Black National Anthem. It says National Negro
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  Hymn. And directly underneath appears Lift every
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  voice and sing. That distinction is sitting right
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  there on the historical document. Now this is
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  a document that was printed in 1921. So this
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  was 21 years later. The brothers had created
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  this. It was presented there in Jacksonville
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  in 1900. And they moved on. They kind of forgot
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  about it. But somebody else picked it up. And
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  it was a music company. that actually copyrighted
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  it in 1921 as the national negro hymn now let's
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  examine this document even more carefully the
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  interior copyright notice reads copyright 1921
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  by edward b mark's music company 1921 in roman
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  numerals so let's summarize what the documents
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  actually give us 1900 it's a national hymn that's
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  by the original writer written for the celebration
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  of Abraham Lincoln's birthday. Then this historical
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  published edition, National Negro Hymn, and underneath
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  it, Lift Every Voice and Sing. So what we find
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  is Edward B. Marks Music Company took this song
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  and went ahead and copyrighted it for another
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  purpose. Those are the documents. They're not
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  my labels. They're sitting there in the historical
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  record. And then let's talk about the Booker
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  T. Washington claim. Now here's where historical
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  research gets interesting. A 2022 article from
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  Our Redeemer's Lutheran Church claimed that the
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  composition was originally recited as a poem
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  for Booker T. Washington, who was supposedly
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  the guest speaker at the Lincoln birthday commemoration
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  in Jacksonville in 1900. the authors, James Weldon
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  Johnson's own manuscript. The Yale record tells
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  us Johnson wrote, written for the celebration
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  of Lincoln's birthday, Jacksonville, Florida,
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  1900. That's why primary sources matter. Now,
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  we don't need to turn Booker T. Washington into
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  the villain of the story. We simply need to distinguish
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  a later secondary claim from Johnson's surviving
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  manuscript actually tells us about the occasion.
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  and what it really meant. So unless there's some
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  other document that the official record is missing,
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  that claim would not be valid. Now let's fast
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  forward to 2020. Now let's leave Jacksonville
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  in 1900, leave the sheet music of the early 20th
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  century, and jump forward 120 years to 2020.
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  And the National Football League. In July 2020,
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  media outlets reported that the National Football
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  League planned to have Lift Every Voice and Sing
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  performed or played before every week one game
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  of the 2020 season. And it would come before
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  the Star Spangled Banner. The opening game was
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  scheduled for September 10th between Houston
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  and Kansas City. And notice the terminology appearing
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  in those reports. known as the Black National
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  Anthem. CBS Sports likewise described the song
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  as also known as the Black National Anthem. And
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  an NPR report said the song known as the Black
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  National Anthem would be performed or played
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  before the week one games. Now we can clearly
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  see how dramatically the terminology had changed.
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  And let's just take a brief look at the National
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  Football League. The National Football League
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  is about organizing all the football teams. Let's
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  put it where it is. It's about money. It's about
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  dollars and cents. So there was a purpose for
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  them to use this song and play it or spin it
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  as the Black National Anthem. The media outlets,
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  of course, went along with whatever press release
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  the NFL put out. But it was important because
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  this has been talked about a lot in the last
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  six years. And that's why we decided to go ahead
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  and do a special on this and find out. What is
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  the truth? Was it really the Black National Anthem?
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  So let's put three things side by side. Not opinions,
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  documents and documented descriptions. First,
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  the 1900 original James Weldon Johnson National
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  Hymn, written for the celebration of Abraham
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  Lincoln's birthday, Jacksonville, Florida, 1900.
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  Then we take the published sheet music from 1921
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  that was copyrighted. by that music company that
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  said, National Negro Hymn. Lift every voice and
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  sing. And then finally, 2020, the NFL era reporting,
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  Black National Anthem. Those are not identical
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  descriptions. And recognizing that difference
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  isn't erasing history, it's examining history.
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  So did the NFL exploit the song? Now I want to
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  clearly distinguish historical fact from our
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  opinion. The NFL took a historic composition
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  whose surviving early sheet music identified
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  as the National Negro Hymn and in 2020 prominently
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  presented it as a context it was being described
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  as the Black National Anthem. Immediately before
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  the Star Spangled Banner, which is the official
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  United States National Anthem, there's only one
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  official United States National Anthem. So in
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  my view, The NFL exploited that later political
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  and racial characterization of the song, but
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  that is my conclusion. The historical documents
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  are there for you to examine yourself. The league's
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  action came immediately amid its publicly described
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  efforts addressing racial inequality and systemic
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  racism. I believe the NFL exploited the modern,
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  quote, black national anthem. unquote, identity
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  attached to this historic composition. You may
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  agree with me, you may disagree with me, but
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  don't confuse my conclusion with the underlying
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  historical facts. Those facts should be examined
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  independently. My question is this. Did presenting
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  one song as the Black National Anthem alongside
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  the National Anthem of the United States promote
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  national unity? Or did it reinforce the idea
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  that Americans should have Separate national
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  symbols according to race. That is the question
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  worth discussing. Because in my view, it put
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  a division between people. It's saying, okay,
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  we have a national anthem for whites, Asians,
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  and Latins. And then we have another national
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  anthem for blacks. What message does that send?
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  What message did the NFL send that day? And continues
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  to, to this day. This was a very beautiful song.
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  It was written as a poem. That's probably why
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  it's so nice. The words are amazing. The music
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  put to it was great. And it was put to it for
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  a specific reason. And whether the music company
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  in 1921 changed it for their purpose and the
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  NFL changed it for their purpose in 2020, that's
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  what this is all about. So what about copyright?
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  Here's something else we need to handle responsibly.
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  Our 1921 sheet of music contains an explicit
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  copyright notice naming Edward B. Marks Music
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  Company. That tells us the historical edition
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  was copyrighted. It does not by itself tell us
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  the legal status of the composition or individual
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  arrangements and performances used by the NFL
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  in 2020. And I will not tell you that the NFL
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  improperly used copyrighted material unless evidence
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  proves it. That is a separate legal question.
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  And historical integrity requires us to recognize
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  that distinction. So, let's let the documents
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  speak. And that's really the lesson of today's
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  episode. Don't begin with 2020. Go back to 1900.
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  Don't begin with the NFL marketing or television
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  presentation or news media outlets or people's
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  ideologies. Go back to James Weldon Johnson,
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  the author. Don't begin with today's nickname.
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  Look at Johnson's manuscript, the National Hymn.
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  Then look at the historical sheet of music that
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  came 21 years later, National Negro Hymn. Then
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  ask how we arrived at Black National Anthem.
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  That is the historical journey we're actually
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  investigating. So from a Christian reflection,
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  my friends, there's something deeper here for
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  us as Christians. We live in an age that divides
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  people into categories almost instinctively.
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  Race, politics, class, ideology, geography. But
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  scripture continually calls us towards something
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  greater. Reconciliation. Truth. Justice. Love
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  of a neighbor. And unity under God. That doesn't
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  require us to erase history. Not at all. Quite
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  the opposite. Truth requires us to understand
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  history accurately. We can acknowledge suffering.
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  We can acknowledge injustice. We can honor perseverance.
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  And at the same time, we can ask whether modern
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  institutions are using our history to bring Americans
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  together or further separate us. Those questions
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  aren't mutually exclusive. Did you know? That
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  Lift Every Voice and Sing originated in connection
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  with a celebration of Abraham Lincoln's birthday
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  in Jacksonville, Florida in 1900. Did you know
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  approximately 500 school children participated
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  in that first public performance? Did you know
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  that James Weldon Johnson's surviving manuscript
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  actually carries the titles National Hymn? Did
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  you know that the historic music sheet we've
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  examined calls it the National Negro Hymn? And,
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  Did you know that in 2020, the NFL introduced
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  a song before the Star -Spangled Banner during
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  Week 1 games while contemporary reporting characterized
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  composition as the Black National Anthem? Those
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  are the documented milestones. What conclusions
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  should we draw from them? Well, that's where
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  the historical evidence ends and thoughtful discussion
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  begins. I'm Pastor David, and this has been another
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  edition of Did You Know? presented by Voices
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  of Life, a ministry of the Church for Life. Today,
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  we've tried to do something increasingly uncommon.
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  We went back to the documents. We separated original
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  terminology from later terminology. We separated
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  historical facts from personal conclusions. And
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  we allowed you, the listener, to decide what
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  those facts mean. My conclusion is my own. But
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  I believe the modern presentation of Lift Every
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  Voice and Sing as a separate black national anthem
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  obscures an important part of the composition's
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  extraordinary original history and unnecessarily
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  divides a national symbol along racial lines.
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  But don't take my opinion as your history lesson.
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  Look at the evidence, read the documents, study
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  the dates, and draw your own conclusion. That's
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  what... information is all about. That's what
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  we always try to do here at Voices of Life, is
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  we go back in history, we talk about the facts.
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  Yeah, we may interject an opinion, but we'll
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  tell you it's an opinion. The rest of it is up
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  to you. Because the goal of Did You Know isn't
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  merely to repeat what somebody told us. It's
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  to ask, did you know the rest of the story? I'm
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  Pastor David. Thank you for joining me on Voices
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  of Life. May God bless you. May God bless your
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  family, and may God continue to bless the United
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  States of America. for joining Pastor David in
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  Voices of Life. Until our next journey through
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  history, keep asking questions, keep learning,
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  and remember, you never know what you might discover
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  when you simply ask, Did you know? This is Voices
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  of Life.