Editing Lift Every Voice and Sing (section)

{{short description|American song}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox anthem
| title         = Lift Every Voice and Sing
| image         = Lift Every Voice and Sing sheet music (cropped).jpg
| caption       = Sheet music of "Lift Every Voice and Sing"
| composer      = [[J. Rosamond Johnson]]
| music_date    = {{Start date|1900}}
| author        = [[James Weldon Johnson]]
| lyrics_date   = {{Start date|1900}}
| alt_title     = Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing
| sound         = Lift Every Voice and Sing - United States Navy Band.opus
| sound_title   = "Lift Every Voice and Sing" performed by the [[United States Navy Band]], 2021
}}
{{African American topics sidebar}}
"'''Lift Every Voice and Sing'''" is a hymn with lyrics by [[James Weldon Johnson]] (1871–1938) and set to music by his brother, [[J. Rosamond Johnson]] (1873–1954). Written from the context of African Americans in the late 19th century, the hymn is a prayer of thanksgiving to God as well as a prayer for faithfulness and freedom, with imagery that evokes the biblical [[The Exodus|Exodus]] from slavery to the freedom of the "promised land".

Premiered in 1900, "Lift Every Voice and Sing" was communally sung within Black American communities, while the [[NAACP]] began to promote the hymn as a "'''[[Negro]] national anthem'''" in 1917 (with the term "'''Black national anthem'''" similarly used in the present day). It has been featured in 49 different Christian hymnals,<ref>{{cite web|title=Lift Every Voice and Sing|url=https://hymnary.org/text/lift_every_voice_and_sing#instances|website=Hymnary.org}}</ref> and it has also been performed by various African American singers and musicians. Its prominence has increased since 2020 following the [[George Floyd protests]].<ref name=Clyburn/>