Print ArticleJohn Scott, host of Jacksonville's Big Show on 99.1, shares which American "anthems" are connected to Jacksonville.
”Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing”: Originally written as a poem by Stanton Principal James Weldon Johnson for a commemoration of Lincoln’s Birthday, it was later set to music by his brother Rosamond Johnson. In 1919 the NAACP declared it the “Negro National Anthem.” It was publicly performed first as a poem as part of a celebration of Lincoln's Birthday on February 12, 1900, by 500 school children at Stanton. In 2009, Reverend Joseph Lowery used a near-verbatim recitation of the song's third stanza to begin his benediction at the inauguration ceremony for President Barack Obama.
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