Everything to Know About ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing,’ Performed Annually at the Super Bowl

In recent years, the NFL began incorporating “Lift Every Voice and Sing” to its regular pregame customs. In 2021, it officially became part of the Super Bowl.

While the song’s history with the Super Bowl is a fairly short one, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is actually more than a century old and is referred to by some as the “Black national anthem.”

However, it’s worth noting that the song does bring some level of controversy with it, as does most things in 2025. Critics of the song’s inclusion typically frame it as divisive, arguing that it doesn’t quite foster unity but rather presents Americans with two “national anthems.”

Proponents of the song argue that high-level cultural expressions, particularly those that come with a magnified audience, have a certain social responsibility and must do everything possible to foster inclusion.

Regardless of which side of the aisle you might find yourself on, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” has an incredible history, which we’re about to break down.

The Origins of ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’

James Weldon Johnson wrote “Lift Every Voice and Sing” in late 1899. Johnson’s goal was to write a poem to commemorate the birthday of the 16th president, Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a writer, educator and civil rights activist.

Johnson’s brother, John Rosamond Johnson, composed the music to accompany the poem. The song was first performed for the public by a choir of 500 students from the Stanton School in Jacksonville, Fla.

Booker T. Washington endorsed “Lift Every Voice and Sing” in 1905, and it became the official song of the NAACP in 1919.

The Cultural Significance of the Song

The NFL’s Executive Vice President of Football Operations, Troy Vincent, wrote about the song in a 2020 blog on the NFL Operations website:

“It has encouraged generations of Black people that God will lead us to the promises of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It’s as pertinent in today’s environment as it was when it was written.”

The NAACP website showcases this quote from CEO Derrick Johnson:

“It spoke to the history of the journey of African-Americans and for many Africans in the diaspora [who] struggled through to get to a place of hope.”

Who Has Performed ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ at the Super Bowl?

‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ Lyrics

Lift every voice and sing,
Till 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 till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chast’ning rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come 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,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who hast by Thy might,
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our God,
True to our native land.