A LETTER FROM DUCHESS The last stanza of the patriotic song My Country Tis of Thee is Let freedom ring One of the stanzas in Lift Every Voice and Sing also known as the Black National Anthem is Ring with the harmony of liberty An anthem is a battle cry of freedom My Country Tis of Thee was written in the 1830s It was considered the US national anthem until The Star Spangled Banner became the official national anthem in 1931 Between these years the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People NAACP adopted Lift Every Voice and Sing as its official song in 1919 It became an anthem for African Americans All cultures have anthems In the African American community protest songs are embedded in our history Enslaved black people used them to resist the terror and violence of slavery Even today anthems have meaning The Story of the Black National Anthem examines how the Black National Anthem came about and what it means today Join me on a journey that examines the promise of freedom
People sing the Black National Anthem by the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial in Washington DC
CHAPTER ONE
LIFT EVERY VOICE The voices of 500 African American of the Stanton School in Jacksonville children rang out across the schoolyard Florida It was February 12 1900 The Florida It was February 12 1900 The school was celebrating President Abraham school was celebrating President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday The singers dedicated their performance to African American civil rights leader Booker T Washington The school had originally asked principal James Weldon Johnson to write a speech to honor Lincoln But James came up with a new idea He decided to write a poem He discussed his idea with his brother J Rosamond Johnson Rosamond taught music The Stanton School opened in 1869 and educated hundreds of African American students
