NFL to play “Lift Every Voice and Sing” at games

07/20/2021

The NFL has announced it will play Clark Atlanta University Alumnus James Weldon Johnson’s Lift Every Voice and Sing, before all games during the 2021 season. 

Created by Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University) Alumnus,1894, writer, composer, educator, civil rights leader, politician, and lawyer, James Weldon Johnson, "Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing" was originally written as a poem. The poem was later scored to music by his brother, musician John Rosamond Johnson, Honorary Degree, Atlanta University, 1917. The song was performed for the first time in celebration of President Abraham Lincoln's Birthday by 500 school children on February 12, 1900 in Jacksonville, Florida, and was soon adopted by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as its official song. 

Click here to view article and hear performance by CAU Philharmonic Society