Often referred to as "The Black National Anthem," Lift Every Voice and Sing was a hymn written as a poem by NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson in 1900. His brother, John Rosamond Johnson (1873-1954), composed the music for the lyrics.

 

“Lift Every Voice and Sing” was written at a crucial time in American history, when Jim Crow was replacing slavery, and African-Americans were searching for an identity of their own. Author and activist James Weldon Johnson wrote the words as a poem, which his brother John Rosamond Johnson then set to music.