Published: June 20, 2025 at 8:44 AM Tags: river city live, lift ev'ry voice and sing park, history, rance adams, carla mechele, juneteenth, events ...

“She was a solid choir member until February, when I would program this song, ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing,’ and she saw it as a divisive song,” Duff, who is Black, told the panelists.

Then Saturday there'll be another "Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing" Black History Month celebration from noon to 4 p.m. at the park with poetry, music, theater, speakers, food and art vendors.

“Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” a song often called the Black national anthem, was sung before the Super Bowl for the fifth year in a row Sunday.

Rance Adams Rance Adams has worked in television for 20 years and has spent the last six years in Jacksonville as an MMJ, co-host, producer, and host for River City Live.

Musician Joe Watts performed “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” written by its downtown park's namesake James Weldon Johnson during Wednesday's commemoration ...

"Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" was originally written as a poem by James Weldon Johnson, but his brother J. Rosamond, turned it into music. The song was performed for the first time in 1900, not long ...