Andrews, who studies African American and African diasporic music, was one of a dozen speakers at a daylong symposium on “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” on Thursday (June 12) at the museum.

“Lift every voice and sing, Till earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of Liberty,” goes the lyric written in 1900 by James Weldon Johnson and set to music by his brother J. Rosamond ...

The NAACP dubbed “Lift Every Voice and Sing” as the Black national anthem in 1919. The decision came more than a decade before “The Star-Spangled Banner” was adopted as the national anthem ...

At age 5, Aquil Sudah first heard the “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” or as he prefers to call it, the Black National Anthem. The hymn, written by James Weldon Johnson and composed by J. Rosamond ...

"Lift Every Voice and Sing," often called the "Black national anthem," was performed at the 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay. The song, written by James Weldon Johnson to honor Abraham Lincoln, has ...