The Museum of the Bible Honors 125 Years of the Black National Anthem

This post was originally published on The Washington Informer

By Jada Ingleton

As early as around age 5, Aquil Sudah recalls first becoming acquainted with the 1900 hymn written by James Weldon Johnson and composed by J. Rosamond Johnson “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” or as he prefers to call it, the Black National Anthem. 

After starting every morning reciting the lyrics – his version of the pledge of allegiance – at Roots Public Charter School in Northwest D.C., Sudah channeled that connection again at 16, when he sang the song that gained him acceptance into Duke Ellington School of the Arts (DESA).

“Of course, at 5, 6, 7 [years old], I don’t really understand the meaning. But as we grow, what you’re introduced to, you’ll start to realize why you were introduced to it,” Sudah, 30, told The Informer. 

Thus, he was pleasantly surprised to watch his alma mater’s Wind ensemble perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing” at his job on June 12, in what he called “a full circle moment” during the Museum of the Bible’s 125th anniversary symposium celebrating the 1900 creation.

“To me, [this] feels special. It feels special, nostalgic, privileged to have known or had that song embedded at 5 years old,” said Sudah, who works as an audio engineer at the Southwest museum. “The concrete [of the song] is something else, the establishment is something else. It’s the movement of the people.”

Sudah was one of several dozen boasting spiritual resonance and personal reflections at the tribute last Thursday, where attendees, performers and workshop leaders from across the nation immersed in a transformative celebration of culture and the transcendence that bestows art and spirituality. 

Featuring musical performances and analysis, the all-day symposium gave a nod to the hymn’s cultural and spiritual roots, while highlighting its presence in modern American history, reminding attendees of all backgrounds that sometimes the bridge to faith is found in the verse of a song. 

“That phrase of [‘Ring with the harmonies of Liberty,’] is just so powerful…you have all of these threads throughout society where we’re all moving toward that day when all people have that sense of justice and that sense of arrival,” said Dr. Bobby Duke, chief curatorial officer and director of the Scholars Initiative at the Museum of the Bible. “It really is a message of hope, a message of what’s the world that we can live in.”

A Look Inside the Symposium 

Kicking off with a performance from Duke Ellington School of the Arts Wind ensemble, the educational program featured keynote lectures, interactive workshops, and a DESA art installation in recognition of the cultural paean that evidently stands with generations of African Americans, and even holds resonance beyond the diaspora. 

Set against the religious calling of God and pledge for freedom, James Weldon Johnson first penned the poem in Jacksonville, Florida to commemorate President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. He later enlisted the help of his brother, who was two years younger, to assemble the melody accompanying the poem-turned-anthem. 

After helping to curate the seminar of two years in the making, Dr. Stephen Michael Newby, professor of music and Lev H. Prichard III endowed chair in the study of Black Worship at Baylor University, beamed as he reflected on the hymn’s significance at the Museum of the Bible, coupled with the backdrop of a singing Florida Memorial University Chorale. 

The composer credited creativity as a universal continuum of all human beings, emphasizing the historic traditions of Black people “pushing the envelope” and elevating genres as a testament to the transgenerational impact of “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

“These Johnson brothers, they were transformative,” Newby said. “Every line [of the hymn] has its own beauty, has its own possibilities for new songs, for new ideas, for multiplicity of new genres. We’re just waiting for the generations to take their role, get in line and put that creative brick in the wall to build [it].”

Symposium activities and sessions further explored the cultural resonance of the song, including: dissecting the poetry and musical origins; afternoon workshops such as “Hammond Organ” with Pastor Ovella Davis of Always in Jesus’ Presence Ministries; and spoken word and quilt making, where participants quilted specific lines and verses of resonance that would later be added to a larger communal canvas. 

Meanwhile, the “Lifting Our Voices” student art installation – showcasing a multitude of lyric interpretations from DESA visual artists – demonstrated the intergenerational impact of the arts. The exhibit was coupled with performances by the Howard University Gospel Choir, Washington Performing Arts choirs, and Florida Memorial University Chorale, the very institution where J. Rosamond Johnson composed the song 125 years ago. 

“To see the history and be able to be a part of the history is something that’s surreal to me,” said 22-year-old Rashaud Marcelin, who performed with the Florida chorus on June 12. “‘Lift Every Voice and Sing,’ that’s our anthem. You can see a lot of people have a lot of pride behind that…behind the legacy.”

Creating a Legacy for a ‘New Generation’

For many, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” is important for various reasons.

Marcelin said the hymn is “like a prayer in a sense,” touting it integral to his own journey through Christianity. 

Newby described the song as an embodiment of three ideals bearing spiritual and cultural relevance: warrior (fighting for justice); witness (“being a signpost for the resurrection spiritually”); and worship, such as recognizing that change-making stems from glorifying someone other than oneself. 

“That hymn, that anthem, that song…it examines our current state. It moves from lament to praise, it moves from observation to exaltation of our God and of our community,” Newby told The Informer. “Let this [story]…lean into a thing that is going to make our humanity better.”

Following the spoken word session, Chicagoan Denise Young told The Informer she thinks the Johnson brothers would be surprised to see the continued celebration of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” assuming the “need” that birthed the hymn would have been resolved more than a century later.  

However, with the federal ban on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and continuous threats against African American education, Young admits the long for liberation persists, though the beauty of the Black national anthem is the fuel to charge forward. 

“The wisdom and the intuitiveness and the creative genius behind [James Weldon] Johnson being able to capture our struggle, our suffering, and at the same time our hope,” Young, 57, told The Informer, “everyone can’t do that. Everyone doesn’t understand that they go together.”

Beyond the timelessness of the tune, Duke hopes the symposium exposes a deep understanding that “the Bible is everywhere,” while opening doors for people to connect with the song “in new ways, for a new generation.”

“This is a song that’s standing between two worlds–the world of the past and the world of the future,” Duke told The Informer, lauding “the sacred moment” of DESA’s Roland Carter rendition and vouched connective histories. “You realize this concept is not about me, it’s about ‘we.’ It’s one that is part of this community, and I’m just thrilled [that] here at Museum of the Bible, we get to welcome even a broader community…to get connected to this song.”

For Young, the immersive opportunities of the symposium present a pivotal approach to ensure “Lift Every Voice and Sing” rings and resonates well into the next 125 years, something she highlights as a responsibility particularly for Black Americans. 

“Here’s something that is important to us, that is created by us…and the world can participate, but the most important thing is our children, our families have to know about this,” Young told The Informer, “and the only people that we can count on to do that is us.”

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