The National Football League (NFL) plans to perform a song colloquially referred to as “the Black national anthem” before a Week 1 game, ESPN reported. …
The National Football League (NFL) plans to perform a song colloquially referred to as “the Black national anthem” before a Week 1 game, ESPN reported.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (or, in some spellings, “Life Ev’ry Voice and Sing”) was written as a poem in 1900 and set to music in 1905. In 1919, the NAACP declared the song, which can be heard here, “The Negro National Anthem,” and indeed, it has come to be embraced by the African American community in the century since.
“Lift ev’ry voice and sing
‘Til earth and heaven ring
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list’ning skies”
An unidentified source familiar with the matter says that the league plans to play the song before the Kansas City Chiefs play the Houston Texans at Arrowhead Stadium on September 10.
