Pittsburgh Lifted Every Voice, and the Nation Heard It

350,000 fans. One hymn. A moment Pittsburgh, the NFL and America  will not forget.

Thursday evening in Pittsburgh, something happened that had never happened before. As the lights of the NFL Draft stage blazed over the North Shore and more than 350,000 people pressed in from every direction, 27 singers from Pittsburgh gave voice to a 126-year-old hymn, and the whole country felt it.

For Rufus Elmer Jones, Jr., President of the James Weldon Johnson Foundation, the moment was everything he had imagined, and more.

"To envision and witness this hymn performed live at the center of the NFL's main stage before more than 350,000 fans was a powerful and historic moment for Pittsburgh and for audiences watching across the nation."

— Rufus Elmer Jones, Jr.

The ensemble was assembled by Dr. Herbert V.R.P. Jones:  conductor, educator, pastor, and founder of the Heritage Gospel Chorale of Pittsburgh. After a mid-March meeting that quickly became a rehearsal, and two more demanding sessions in April, Dr. Jones made his picks: 20 members of his chorale, five singers from other local groups, plus himself, Grammy-winning conductor Dr. Jeffery Redding, and Rufus E. Jones Jr. singing tenor front and center.

The song, which James Weldon Johnson originally called "National Hymn," was first sung by 500 Black schoolchildren in Jacksonville, Florida on February 12, 1900. It spread the way only the most resonant things do. It became the NAACP's official song. It became known as the Black national anthem. But Rufus Jones will tell you that Johnson never thought of it that narrowly. He wrote it for everyone. That spirit:  wide, inclusive, hopeful,  was exactly what rang out over Pittsburgh on Thursday night.

"What moved me most was seeing people believe in this vision and embrace an idea that had never been seen or heard in Pittsburgh and beyond. I leave this city with renewed purpose and deep gratitude for these singers, who now feel like family."

— Rufus Elmer Jones, Jr.

Opera singers, church singers, blues and jazz musicians, rock vocalists, retirees—Pittsburgh people. Together, they carried a 126-year-old hymn to one of the biggest stages in American sports, and carried it beautifully, honoring the legacy of Mr. James Weldon Johnson for all of America to hear. That legacy belongs to all of us. Johnson wrote of perseverance and dignity and hope,  not for one people, but for a nation still becoming itself. On Thursday, in Pittsburgh, his words rang out over hundreds of thousands of Americans from every walk of life. And for a moment, the song did exactly what its author always believed it could: it brought us together.