"Lift Every Voice And Sing" (often called the African American National Anthem) Performed In 2020 By A Children's Choir & Performed In ASL During The 2026 Super Bowl

 
Lift Every Voice And Sing | 17th Annual Dr. MLK, Jr. Tribute Concert | BCC

Boston Children's Chorus, Mar 14, 2022  SYMPHONY HALL

Boston Children's Chorus (BCC) performs "Lift Every Voice And Sing" arranged by Rollo Dilworth at Still I Rise, the 17th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Tribute Concert at Symphony Hall, Boston on Monday, January 20, 2020.

Featured Choirs: Training and Intermediate Choirs, conducted by Anthony Trecek-King

About BCC:

Boston Children's Chorus (BCC) harnesses the power of music to connect our city's diverse communities, cultivate empathy, and inspire social inquiry.

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases a 2020 YouTube performance of the song "Lift Every Voice And Sing" by the Boston Children's Chorus.

This post also showcases a 2026 YouTube video of Fred Beam performing "Lift Every Voice And Sing" with American Sign Language (ASL) at the 2026 Super Bowl by deaf artist Fred  

This post presents the lyrics to "Lift Every Voice And Sing" along with some information about why it has become a tradition to perform that song during the Super Bowl halftime.

The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to James Weldon Johnson, the composer of "Lift Every Voice And Sing" in 1900 for his musical and cultural legacy. Thanks to all those who are featured in these videos and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/02/information-about-song-lift-every-voice.html for the pancocojams post "Information About The Song "Lift Every Voice And Sing" That Is Called "The Black National Anthem" & Why It Is Performed During Super Bowl Halftime."

Also, click https://civilrightssongs.blogspot.com/2014/11/lift-every-voice-and-sing-lyrics.html for information, lyrics, and videos of "Lift Every Voice And Sing". "Civil Rights Songs" is another blog that I curate.

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #2 -2026 Super Bowl Lift Every Voice and Sing - Fred Beam, Deaf artist, ASL

SWIC ASL,  Feb 8, 2026

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LYRICS- LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING

(James Weldon Johnson)

Lift every voice and sing,
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list’ning 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 till 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,
Till 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 hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who hast 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.
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From http://www.shmoop.com/lift-every-voice-and-sing/meaning.html
...“Lift Every Voice and Sing” was written by a school principal and first performed by 500 children in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1900.Though unveiled as part of a community celebration in honor of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, the song quickly spread outside the community of Jacksonville. Within a decade, black school children across America were singing the song, and in 1919, the recently formed National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) adopted “Lift Every Voice and Sing” as its official song. Today, the song is frequently described as the “African American National Anthem.”

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