Stony the road we trod, Bitter the chastening rod, Felt in the days when hope unborn had died Yet with a steady beat,Have not our weary feetCome to the place for which our fathers sighed?We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,Out from the gloomy past,'Til now we stand at lastWhere the white gleam of our bright star is cast. Lift ev'ry voice and sing, 'Til earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of Liberty Let our rejoicing rise High as the list'ning skies,Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.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 'til victory is won. It was first performed in public in the Johnsons' hometown of Jacksonville, Florida as part of a celebration of Lincoln's Birthday on Februby a choir of 500 schoolchildren at the segregated Stanton School, where James Weldon Johnson was principal. It was written as a poem by James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) and then set to music by his brother John Rosamond Johnson (1873-1954) in 1899. Lift Every Voice and Sing is often called "The Black National Anthem".
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