Original Sheet Music for "Lift Every Voice and Sing" by J. Weldon & J. Rosamond Johnson

Sheet music for the hymn "Lift Every Voice and Sing (National Hymn for the Colored People of America)", with lyrics by James Weldon Johnson and music by his brother, J. Rosamond Johnson. 3pp, measuring 10.5" x 13.5", no place, ca. 1900. Moderate degrees of soiling and staining throughout, with expected creasing and minor tearing to outside edges. Good to fair overall- an important Civil Rights anthem!

James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) was an American writer and civil rights activist. Johnson was a leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), where he started working in 1917. In 1920, he was chosen as executive secretary of the organization, a position he served for the next ten years. Johnson additionally established his reputation as a writer, and was known during the Harlem Renaissance for his poems, novels and anthologies collecting both poems and spirituals of black culture. Together with his brother, John Rosamond Johnson (1873-1954), the two would write and compose "Lift Every Voice and Sing" which debuted in 1900.

The song, which evokes a biblical exodus from the horrors of slavery, offers a prayer of thankfulness and freedom in the face of societal adversity. While originally dubbed as the "Black National Anthem", this designation has been marked as a separatist by some historians, although the hymn continues to hold significance in popular culture and as a national hymn of the United States.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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