Johnson wrote those words at the turn of the 20th century, an era historians call the “nadir” of African American history. I know it’s born of faith in God who, as the poet and author of the anthem, James Weldon Johnson, wrote, “hast brought us thus far on the way” and “hast by thy might led us into the light.” ![]() I thank God for the grace my Black friends extend to me and to the church. It takes grace, at the denominational annual meeting, to exchange a sign of peace with the person who earlier mistook you for one of the conference center’s waiters and now doesn’t even recognize you from that incident.Īnd, I realize, it takes grace to continue to sing along to “Lift Every Voice and Sing” next to the white woman whose eyes are brimming with tears without telling her to get over herself and dry it up. It takes grace to continue to cooperate when white members of your denomination lament the closing of historically Black churches without acknowledging the historic lack of investment by the larger, predominantly white church, or the Jim Crow laws and customs that made those churches financially vulnerable. ![]() And they’re also tears of wonder: wonder at the grace my Black siblings in Christ show by continuing to stand, sing and worship with people who so often close our ears to the song’s present-day call. They’re not so much tears of mourning for the past - although the lyrics attest that there is plenty to lament - as tears of shame for the present. Some of us are immigrants: many, like me, benefiting from the white privilege that the Civil War’s torrents of blood did not wash away, others targeted daily by the shape-shifting demon of racism.Įvery time, these thoughts leave me singing through tears. Many are descended from both groups (a fact usually not acknowledged by the white branches of their family trees). Others’ ancestors held those people in slavery. But the next verse is more challenging:įelt in the days when hope unborn had died …Īt this point, I’m usually looking around the church, deeply conscious that some in the congregation are descended from people who trod the stony road of slavery - a way, as the lyrics say, that was watered with tears - on toward emancipation through “the blood of the slaughtered.” The opening is a beautiful invitation anyone can belt out with gusto. Most white members of the congregation, however, can only summon the first couple of lines or hum the tune. (It doesn’t take long a melody that alternates between soaring notes and a marching tempo drives home both the words and the emotions behind them.) Others were introduced to the song when Beyoncé sang it at Coachella as the first African American woman to headline that music festival, in 2018. Most people who can sing the anthem by heart are Black they often have learned the words from their families and community, in church and civic celebrations.Ī few are like me: white people who committed to memorizing the lyrics. In this case, familiarity breaks down along racial lines. As with any song in the hymnal (“Lift Every Voice and Sing” is included in many of them), some members of the congregation know it better than others. Friends of mine recently included it in their wedding. In Episcopal circles, the song known as the Black national anthem rings out at celebrations of saints like Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, Henry Beard Delany and Pauli Murray. Note: When you embed the widget in your site, it will match your site's styles (CSS).I’ve heard the words so often lately, I’ve learned them by heart. Get the embed code The Boys Choir of Harlem - We Shall Overcome Album Lyrics1.Let There Be Peace On Earth2.Lift Every Voice and SingThe Boys Choir of Harlem Lyrics provided by True to our God, true to our na-tive land. ![]() Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we for-get Thee Lest our feet stray from the plac-es our God, where we met Thee, Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way Where the bright gleam of our bright star is cast. Tread-ing our path through the blood of the slaugh-tered We have come o-ver a way that with tears has been wa-tered Sing a song full of the hope that the pres-ent has brought usįelt in the days when hope un-born had diedĬome to the place for which our peo-ple sighed? Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us
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