Centers and Clinics
Negro National Anthem
1:45pm - 1:50pm Negro National Anthem
To Be Sung By: Courtney Hubbard
Lift Every Voice and sing till earth and heaven ring
Ring with the harmonies of liberty
Let our rejoicing rise high as the listening 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 sum 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 which tears has been watered
We have come, treading out path through the blood of the slaughtered
Out of the gloomy past, till 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 hast by Thy might, led us into the light
Keep us for-e-ver in the path we pray
Lest our feet, stray from the places our GOD where me 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
Before the age of 30, James Weldon Johnson had been admitted to the Florida Bar and had composed the lyrics of "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" originally written for a celebration of Lincoln's birthday at Stanton School. This song would later be known and adopted by the NAACP as the Negro National Anthem. "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" has been entered into the Congressional Record as the official African American National Hymn.
Johnson was a leading African-American author, critic, journalist, poet, anthropologist, educator, lawyer, songwriter, early civil rights activist, and prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance. He is best remembered for his writing, which includes novels, poems, and collections of folklore. Johnson was also one of the first African-American professors at New York University. Later in life he was a Professor of Creative Literature and Writing at Fisk University.