The Black National Anthem

Shery Lee Ralph

Since the first year the Black National Anthem was performed at the Super Bowl in 2020, it has been one of the most common post-game talking points. Some believe the song is divisive, while others believe the song is uplifting and should be enjoyed by all.  

what is the black national anthem? 

The Black National Anthem was written as a poem in 1899 by the Johnson brothers. The two worked together their whole lives. They started in show business and ended with the pursuit of civil rights. Both men saw cultural and artistic excellence as a key to Black excellence. The poem was written not long after the abolition of slavery in the US. At the time, Black Americans were struggling because Reconstruction efforts did not provide opportunities of educational and financial advancement for them. 

“Lift Every Voice and Sing” was first performed as a song in 1900 at a segregated school in Florida by 500  children at a Black History Month event, before long the anthem became a universal signifier of Black  identity. 

“In this way, ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ was at one time a history, a proclamation and a vision for the future. It immediately resonated with Black communities and institutions,” says scholar and activist Saeed Ahmed. 

The anthem acknowledges the lives lost in the battle for equality, while also emphasizing how far we’ve come as a country. In 1919, the NAACP proclaimed “Lift Every Voice and Sing” the Negro National  Anthem. Many people don’t realize that this was 12 years before President Herbert Hoover adopted “The Star-Spangled Banner'' as the National Anthem. 

where did “the star-spangled banner” come from, and why are people against it? 

“The Star-Spangled Banner'' was written by Francis Scot Key in 1814. Francis, a wealthy slave owner and  lawyer from Maryland, faithfully preached that African Americans were “a distinct and inferior race of people, which all experience proves to be the greatest evil that afflicts a community.” He penned the poem aboard a ship negotiating the release of a prisoner. 

A common issue some people have against “The Star-Spangled Banner'' is the stanza that we don’t usually recite. As mentioned before, although Francis spoke of the US being the land of the free, he owned human beings as property. That being said, he had very strong feelings toward the African Americans who fought for the British on the promise of gaining their freedom. The stanza is written below: 

No refuge could save the hireling & slave / 

From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave / 

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave / 

O’er the land of the free & the home of the brave.

“There are historians (notably Robin Blackburn, author of The Overthrow of Colonial Slavery, 1776-1848  and Alan Taylor, author of "American Blacks in the War of 1812") who have indeed read the stanza as glorying in the Americans' defeat of the Corps of Colonial Marines, one of two units of Black  slaves recruited between 1808 and 1816 to fight for the British on the promise of gaining their freedom,”  writer David Emery explains. 

We know from documents that there were human beings fighting for their right to be treated as such, and they were many of the ones defeated in the War of 1812.  

“The Star-Spangled Banner” glorifies America’s triumph over them, and then turns that reality upside down, transforming their killers into courageous freedom fighters.”  

The irony is that these “freedom fighters'' were fighting the people that were asking for freedom. After the Peace Treaty of Ghent was signed in 1814, the U.S government demanded the return of American property, referencing about 6,000 black people to which the British refused.  

why did the black national anthem start being performed at super bowls? 

We can contribute most of this to Colin Kaepernick. In 2016, Colin refused to stand during the National Anthem as a protest against racial oppression.  

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses Black people and people of color,” he said. It is important to note that this was the same year as the murder of George Floyd, when police brutality and systematic racism were being brought to light on a large scale. Many people of color  were standing up and saying enough is enough.  

However, many believe that Colin was allegedly blackballed by the league’s team owners as a result of speaking out, and he became the most disliked NFL player in the game. In 2017, Trump even called on NFL owners to fire players who knelt during the anthem, after more and more athletes began to follow Colin’s example. 

In 2020, in a bid to improve its image with African Americans after the police killing of George Floyd led to a universal outcry for social justice, the National Football League (NFL) announced that “Lift Every Voice and Sing” would be played before each first game of the season for all teams. The NFL even admitted it was wrong to not listen to players earlier and encouraged all to speak out and peacefully  protest. “We, the NFL, believe Black Lives Matter.” Thus, here we are today.  

cultural significance 

“Lift Every Voice and Sing” has had a powerful place in American history for over 100 years. For a lot of  people (especially those who are not Black), Beyonce performing the anthem in 2018 was the first time that they’d heard it. Let’s take a look at how the Black National Anthem grew to be such an iconic staple for the Black community after the original choir of 500 schoolchildren grew up and shared the song:

- The BNA was sung at church services, civic organization meetings, pageants and graduations; it anchored Emancipation Day and Negro History Week celebrations and daily school rituals. 

- The National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs and Booker T. Washington utilized the song for inspiration. 

- In 1936, it opened the first conference of the National Negro Congress, an anti-fascist organization fighting for Black liberation 

- Maya Angelou recalls singing the song with her Black classmates in Oakland as a “rejoinder” to a visiting racist white politician. 

- When the Civil Rights Era began in the 1950s, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was sung during organizational meetings for the Montgomery Bus Boycott and quoted in speeches by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

- Following Dr. Martin’s assassination, a crowd in Roxbury, Mass., sang the song with Reverend Virgil Wood declaring, “We will not sing the anthem that has dishonored us, but we will  sing the one that has honored us.” 

- In 1972, it became the anthem for Black students in Newark who staged walkouts demanding Black teachers and Black curriculum. 

- Highly influential Black artists such as Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and more covered the song. 

Regardless of the song’s usage at the Superbowl, the influence that “Lift Every Voice and Sing” has had  on Black culture over more than a century has been immeasurable. In 2021, congressman James Clyburn, D-S.C., proposed that “Lift Every Voice and Sing” be made a companion anthem to “The Star Spangled Banner”. He said that “Lift  Every Voice and Sing” is an appropriate choice for America’s most patriotic hymn because he believes it would unite Americans and acknowledge the country's entrenched racial divisions. “The gesture itself would be an act of healing. Everybody can identify with that song,” James explained. 

For generations, Americans have overlooked the irony of celebrating Francis Scot Key, who denied freedom to other human beings. The incorporation of the century-old anthem into mainstream America in the Super Bowl is a big step as it shows that Black people are being taken into consideration in a way we never  were before.

As everyone divides on whether playing the Black National Anthem is appropriate at sporting events, no one is questioning whether or not to remove “The Star-Spangled Banner”. It’s apparent that the song means a lot to many people and it has a strong tie to American history. Is it too much to ask that we acknowledge the same about the Black National Anthem? 

Sources

What makes 'Lift Every Voice and Sing' so iconic

'The Star-Spangled Banner' and Slavery

A History of the Newly Resurgent ‘Black National Anthem’

8 Facts About ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing,’ the Black National Anthem


Samone Long is a musician, freelance writer, and contributing writer for Hope Magazine. She also serves as a Marketing Assistant for a medical company based in North Carolina. She has a passion for writing about human rights, and social reform. One of her main goals is to inspire minorities to advocate for themselves, educate themselves, and uplift one another.

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