Partner with the Ashbrook Center on a Teaching American History Grant

Home > Document Library > Modern Era > Civil Rights > Lift Every Voice and Sing

Lift Every Voice and Sing


James Weldon Johnson

Print this Page

Lift every voice and sing
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us,
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun
Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has by Thy might
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand.
True to our God,
True to our native land.

Master of American History and Government

Free Saturday Seminars for Teachers:

Free Summer Institutes for Teachers:

Historical Documents Library:

Online Audio Lectures and Discussions:

Special Exhibits:

Teaching American History Grants:

Support for TeachingAmericanHistory.org is provided by the Verizon Foundation.

TeachingAmericanHistory.org is a project of the
Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs at Ashland University
401 College Avenue | Ashland, Ohio 44805
(419) 289-5411 | (877) 289-5411 (Toll Free)
info@TeachingAmericanHistory.org

© 2006-08 Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs | Design by Capital Idea Ventures, Inc. (CiV)