Customer Reviews

Lift Every Voice and Sing: A Celebration of the Negro National Anthem; 100 Years, 100 Voices

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Julian Bond and Sondra K. Wilson have blazed a trail in editing this book. Mostly well-known Americans, but also some hidden gems, share with the reader what the Johnson brothers' song means to them.

And it means a lot to a cross section of Americans. One friend noted that if you read the book in one setting, as she did, you get a clear sense of how African American families taught their children to be revolutionaries. These children were taught about their history, and they were given the tools to dream and do something about their future. They had no choice; they had to march on until victory was won! And they did, from shacks in Mississippi, middle-class homes in Chicago and upper-class environments in Hollywood (where they often still could not get a decent meal in a restaurant), they were taught to fight for their freedom. They marched on--on buses, at "white only" lunch counters, over bridges with dogs and police daring them to cross,down lonely country roads with the KKK looking on--and though hundreds of marches, they fulfilled the dreams of their ancestors.

One of the real treasures of the book, besides the wonderful essays, is that one gets the sense, through exquisite historical photos, of how broad the African American experience is and continues to be. There are poor black women chopping cotton, and black men being killed. But there are also photograpshs of young black women on horseback in the 1950s, muslim women at a mosque, photographs of Muhammad Ali, James Weldon Johnson and his wife looking lovingly at each other, proud black women on their way to church and young children all dressed up to perform in some special show for their parents. These photos give you a sense that despite the hardship, we might be making some progress--that the race is okay and might survive.

I would like to thank Bond and Wilson for sharing with us the best of our culture. As one NY Amsterdam News' reviewer noted, "If you breathe, you should buy this book." It is a perfect gift for any occasion.

I admit that I intended to purchased this book simply because my grandmother, Jeanne Belle Osby Goodwin is one of the featured 100 voices. But as I read through some of the other essays, the song and the thousands of voices that I have heard sing its choruses filled my heart and mind with such glory. This book became a must have book for my loved ones. "Sing a song full of the hope..." We are a people of many trials and tribulations. This song, and the written words of the 100 serve as potent reminders that we can,do and will persevere- to sweet victory!

In 1900 James Weldon Johnson, and his brother J. Rosamond Johnson, wrote a song for a chorus of five hundred black school children, in Jacksonville, Florida, to sing in celebration of Lincoln's birthday. The song was originally published by mimeograph, and intended only for that year's remembrance of President Lincoln. Yet, the black school children of Jacksonville kept singing. ...and because the song reflected the truth of the black experience in America, the chorus swelled from five hundred to millions of voices. Today "Lift Every Voice and Sing" is alternately referred to as the "Black National Anthem"

Deeply patriotic, and clinging to a vision of an America healed of the scourge of racism, the brothers Johnson answered Francis Scott Key's anthem with realism, pathos, and hope. Whereas Key's song speaks of the external, military enemy, the Johnsons' chorus speaks of the more insidious internal enemy of racism. Whereas Key wrote of liberty already won and now demanding defense, the Johnsons wrote of liberty delayed, eventually promised, seen, but not yet fully acheived.

In this anthology, the editors give us an history of this deeply moving piece of music, and a chronology of its authors. They also give us one hundred short reponses to the song -- almost meditations -- by Americans of every skin hue. Finally, the text includes a pictoral display of the 20th century, American, black experience which is a treasure in and of itself.

This is more than a coffee table book. This is a book for all Americans to read and re-read: for in this text are planted the seeds of tolerance and understanding which our nation so desperately requires.

This is educational for those who that take the time to read it. Since receiving it, I have not been able to put it down. This is a blessing for me and my children.