The lyrics to "Lift Every Voice and Sing," and James Weldon Johnson on how it came to be • Minnesota Reformer

The lyrics to "Lift Every Voice and Sing," and James Weldon Johnson on how it came to be • Minnesota Reformer

Sheryl Lee Ralph performs Lift Every Voice and Sing prior to Super Bowl LVII on February 12, 2023 in Glendale, Arizona. Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images.Reprinted from Poetry Foundation.  A group of young men in Jacksonville, Florida, arranged to celebrate Lincoln’s birthday in 1900. My brother, J. Rosamond Johnson, and I decided to write a song to be sung at the exercises. I wrote the words and he wrote the music. Our New York publisher, Edward B…