JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – From 500 students in Jacksonville’s LaVilla neighborhood to the Super Bowl stage, “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” has carried through.
On Monday, the song returned to where it all began.
Dozens gathered at Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing Park to commemorate the 126th anniversary of the song’s first performance. The park, built on the land where James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson’s family home once stood, served as the starting point for a historic walking tour through LaVilla.
“You just saw it performed at the Super Bowl, so that is a testament to the longevity of the song,” said Carla Mechele, curator of Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing Park, referring to singer and actress Coco Jones’ performance of the song at Super Bowl 60. “The fact that it is a song that’s about the past, present and future.”
The celebration took participants on a journey through Jacksonville’s historic LaVilla neighborhood to the Old Stanton School, where on February 12, 1900, 500 students first lifted their voices to perform what would become known as the “Black National Anthem.”
Lift Every Voice and Sing was a hymn written as a poem by the Johnson brothers. James Weldon Johnson was principal at the Stanton School and put the song together to to celebrate President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.
“Although the song was first performed here in 1900 by about 500 past or present students, those students went out,” Yollie Copeland of Explore Jax Core, who led the walking tour, said. “They dispersed around the country, some around the globe, and that song has stayed in their heart.”
For many participants, the celebration revealed a hidden chapter of Jacksonville’s rich Black history. Asia Oliver, who is from Baltimore, said she found herself deeply moved by the experience.
“I felt like my ancestors in that moment and just listening to the actual words of the song,” she said. “Wow, my ancestors really fought for this and I’m just proud to be here ... It actually makes me want to go home and research some more black history.”
The day’s events culminated with a performance at the site of Old Stanton School, bringing the song full circle to where it first resonated through Jacksonville’s streets. As the song returned to its birthplace on its 126th anniversary, the historic grounds still echo with hope, heritage, and harmony.