(Image: Chris Charles)
The ever-lasting spiritual song, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” has been the backbone of many Black Christian and Baptist churches throughout the years. As the “official” Black national anthem for many years, it had been brought up in many conversations in recent years as even the National Football League had announced prior to last season that the hymn would be heard before each NFL game played during the opening weekend.
Before that announcement last year, in July, two Black musicians, saxophonist Mike Phillips and pianist West Byrd, had added some soul-seasoning to the national anthem by incorporating the Negro national anthem at the beginning of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway.
Men s basketball coach Kelvin Jefferson was the driving force behind the move
The song was first played January 12 before a game at the Pennsylvania school I went to the administration and they were 100 percent for it, Jefferson said
On Sunday Alicia Keys rendition saw players from the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers link arms at their respective end zones at the Superbowl
The NFL also played Lift Every Voice and Sing before each game during Week 1
The NAACP dubbed the song as the black national anthem in 1919
Gannon University now plays the song after The Star-Spangled Banner