Events and Performances

James Weldon Johnson was an intensely active participant and promoter of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s.  His first literary success resulted from his authorship of "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" in 1899.  Johnson's brother, Rosamond, set the poem to the music, a collaboration known today as the Negro National Anthem.  Wikipedia reports that this anthem prevailed over "The Star Spangled Banner" in a contest to select the national anthem.  "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" lost the prize when the judges learned its authorship.

BLWSV is excited to present this “dramatic sequence” that shares a lineal descent from the spirituals that are the core of the choir’s repertoire.