‘Lift Every Voice and Sing,' the unofficial Black national anthem, celebrates 125 years

First page of music for "Lift Every Voice and Sing," written by James Weldon Johnson. Images courtesy Library of Congress
WASHINGTON (RNS) — ‘It is featured in over 40 different Christian hymnals and sung in churches all across America, not just during Black History Month or Juneteenth,’ said musician Theodore Thorpe III.