Lift Every Voice and Sing

Lift every voice and sing,

'Til 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 sun of our new day begun,

Let us march on 'til victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,

Bitter the chast'ning 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.

In 1900, for Abraham Lincoln's birthday, 500 pupils from the Stanton School recited a poem called "Lift Every Voice and Sing" to welcome Booker T. Washington to their school. The poem was written by the school's principal, Weldon Johnson, for the occasion.
The poem marked many spirits, especially those of African Americans. They could use it to protest against their condition, but also as a way to express their hopes for the future. 5 years later, Weldon Johnson's brother made it a song that has been engraved into the African-American history.
The song became so popular and meaningful for the African American community that in 1919, it became "The National Negro Anthem". During the second half of the century, it was even often sung in accompaniment to the "The Star Spangled Banner" at public events and performances across the US that involved a significant black population, reflecting that notion of identity, pride, and unity that African Americans share.