Lift Every Voice And Sing Song Analysis

There are several significant songs for the civil right movement of the 1960s in the movie Wattstax, but the song that caught my attention is “Lift Every Voice and Sing” sung by Kim Weston. According to several sources, the song was originally written as a poem by James Weldon Johnson, and set to music by his brother John Rosamond Johnson in 1899. It was performed for the first time as a celebration of President Lincoln’s birthday on February 12, 1900 in Jacksonville by about five-hundred colored school children. The fact that it was chosen to be perform on President Lincoln’s birthday may have indicated its relation to civil rights and racial injustice since the president is often remember for his work for African American during the Civil War. According to the song creators, the children of Jacksonville kept singing it and taught it to other children. The song was spread all over the South and some other parts of the country, which earned its title as “The Black National Anthem.” The song

It is African American’s way to express their pride and their resistance against discrimination and social injustices. Since then, the song itself has some specific connotations attached and evoked certain feelings/emotions, I think it would remain as a form of active music against racial injustice because it speaks to people who are fighting/ advocating for their rights. The song holds a bittersweet tone to it since the lyrics suggest that people should be grateful for the changes and civil movements in history, but they still need to strive on because the march to victory is still not over. They need to continue until “victory is