WASHINGTON (RNS) — “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is a hymn many African Americans of older generations just know. They’d sung it in church, learned it in school and stood for what is dubbed the ...

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 Johnson ...

"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 been ...

There might not be a more polarizing pre-event song these days than “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” which is also referred to as the “Black National Anthem.” The MAGA crowd tends to hate it with a ...