When the NFL needed strong voices, this choir provided the lift
- May 18
- 2 min read
History has a sound. On April 23, 2026, it sounded like "Lift Every Voice and Sing."
Before 300,000 people at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, and 13 million more watching worldwide, the James Weldon Johnson Foundation's National Hymn Choir opened the 2026 NFL Draft with the hymn that James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson gave to the world. What began in 1900 as a poem for schoolchildren has traveled a long road to this stage. That journey was felt in every note.
Then the performance ended, and something quieter, and perhaps more consequential, began.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro made his way to the choir. He didn't breeze through. He moved slowly, genuinely, embracing members one by one with the ease of someone who belonged among them. The choir parted to receive him. It felt less like a political appearance and more like a family reunion on hallowed ground.
James Weldon Johnson President, Rufus Jones, stepped forward and spoke privately with the Governor. What passed between them matters — to the Foundation, to the legacy of the National Hymn, and possibly to the future of this nation. For now, those words remain between them. A follow-up meeting is being sought, and when the time is right, the full significance of that exchange will speak for itself.
Some things are worth waiting for.
This edition of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a souvenir issue, the last before new ownership assumed the paper, carried this story in its Sunday pages. It is a fitting capstone: a newspaper closing one chapter on the same day a hymn continued writing its own.
Search "When NFL needed strong voices, this choir provided the lift" at post-gazette.com to read the full feature by Bob Batz Jr.
