Angel Reese and "Lift Every Voice and Sing"
James Weldon Johnson was born in Jacksonville, Florida, on June 17, 1871. This year, one day after what would have been his 155th birthday, his words reached Angel Reese.
On June 18, before the Atlanta Dream played the Indiana Fever, Reese stood on the court as the Indiana crowd booed. A vocalist sang "Lift Every Voice and Sing" in honor of Juneteenth. Reese sang with her. Every word.
Two days later, she told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution why:
"My ancestors walked so I could run. I'll never forget that. Every day I wake up, I'm very grateful … Hearing the loud boos when I was in the arena. And then when I heard 'Lift Every Voice,' it just made me feel like this is for the ones who walked for me … It's bigger than me. It's for the ones who really walked so we could run."
What the song was made to do
Johnson was principal of the Stanton School in Jacksonville when he wrote the poem for Abraham Lincoln's birthday. His brother, J. Rosamond Johnson, set it to music. On February 12, 1900, the schoolchildren sang it for the first time.
He did not write a song about a victory already won. He wrote one for the road toward it:
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us, Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us; Facing the rising sun of our new day begun, Let us march on till victory is won.
That is the song Reese heard in Indiana. Faith drawn from the past. Hope held in the present. A room that did not want her there.
Foundation President Rufus Jones put it this way to the AJC:
"Tears rolled down James Weldon Johnson's cheeks as he wrote the words to the hymn. It has always been a song that has resonated with people going through struggles or pain. For a great American athlete like Angel Reese to fall into that song when she needs it, that's a testament to the majesty of the lyrics."
The man behind the words
Johnson learned his craft in Atlanta, where he graduated from Atlanta University, now Clark Atlanta University, in 1894. The city where Reese now plays was the city that shaped him.
He went on to live many lives. He was the first Black attorney admitted to the Florida bar after Reconstruction. He wrote Broadway songs with his brother and Bob Cole. He served as U.S. consul in Venezuela and Nicaragua. He published The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man in 1912 and God's Trombones in 1927. From 1920 to 1930 he led the NAACP as executive secretary, fighting for federal anti-lynching legislation. He spent his summers in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, the town our Foundation calls home.
Of all that work, one song travels furthest. It has been sung in churches and classrooms for more than a century. This summer it was sung on a basketball court, and a young woman under pressure took strength from it.
A hymn for every voice
As America marks its 250th year, a bill first introduced by Rep. James Clyburn in 2021 would recognize "Lift Every Voice and Sing" as America's national hymn. We hope Congress will give it the hearing it deserves.
"It's a song that's not just for a single group of people, it's for 'every' voice," Jones said. "It's not race-based or ethnic based … It's a song for all Americans."
Johnson did not write "lift some voices." He wrote "lift every voice." In Indiana this June, Angel Reese lifted hers.
Quotes from Angel Reese and Rufus Jones originally appeared in A.R. Shaw's article for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Read the full article on UATL.
