Description:
If African Americans are, as some have proposed, a "nation within a nation," then the song "Lift Every Voice and Sing" is their anthem. Written in 1900 by the brilliant civil rights leader and author James Weldon Johnson and his brother J. Rosamond Johnson, it was the official song of the NAACP from the 1920s through the civil rights movement of the '50s and '60s. During that time, it was sung by millions of black children and even printed in family bibles. This book, edited by NAACP Chairman Julian Bond and scholar Sondra Kathryn Wilson, celebrates the song through the testimonials of 100 prominent black and white legislators, politicians, educators, writers, and performers, whose "essays build a multifaceted narrative that elucidates the value and profundity of a song that has vibrantly endured for one hundred years." Filmmaker Gordon Parks writes that the song "soars from the depths of our history," and that "it urges us to keep moving on until equality and freedom surround us with the oneness of the sky." For music icon Quincy Jones, the Johnson brothers "gave us this noble song to soothe our emotional wounds while, simultaneously, lifting our spirits." Ilyasah Shabazz, Malcolm X's daughter, says the composition "still serves as a reminder of our ancestors and our historical experiences in America." Testimonies from Norman Lear, Bill Clinton, Maya Angelou, and Congresswoman Maxine Waters add further proof of the power and passion of this song, which speaks to the highest ideals of American democracy. --Eugene Holley Jr.
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