"Lift Every Voice and Sing" — often called "The Negro National Hymn", "The Negro National Anthem", "The Black National Anthem", or "The African-American National Anthem"— is a song written as a poem by James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) and set to music by his brother John Rosamond Johnson (1873–1954) in 1900.
Famous quotes containing the words lift every voice, lift, voice and/or sing:
“Lift every voice and sing till earth and heaven ring,
ring with the harmonies of liberty.
Let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies;
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.”
—James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938)
“Men, forever tempted to lift the veil of the future—with the aid of computers or horoscopes or the intestines of sacrificial animals—have a worse record to show in these “sciences” than in almost any scientific endeavor.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)
“Her voice was ever soft,
Gentle, and low, an excellent thing in woman.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“This is a fault common to all singers, that among their friends they will never sing when they are asked; unasked, they will never desist.”
—Horace [Quintus Horatius Flaccus] (65–8 B.C.)