Vanessa Williams’ performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” alongside “The Star-Spangled Banner” at PBS’ annual “A Capitol Fourth” celebration has rubbed many on social media the wrong way, as the song is widely known as the “Black national anthem.”
As news of the pre-recorded performance hit Twitter on Saturday, people began to blast the upcoming special as “racist” and promoting “segregationism.” Specifically, many took the use of the phrase “Black national anthem” in The Hill’s coverage of the event to mean that the 4th of July will no longer represent all Americans.
For instance, Newsmax host Steve Cortes simply wrote, “We have one national anthem…” in response to The Hill’s tweet.
We have one national anthem… pic.twitter.com/pLFbB28OIJ
— Steve Cortes (@CortesSteve) July 3, 2021
Florida-based politician Lavern Spicer took up the issue with Williams herself, tweeting, “Vanessa honey, a BLACK national anthem is something a Black African Country would have, not a country like America that exists for everyone.”
People trippin over the singing of Lift Every Voice and Sing, aka, The Black National Anthem, at the Capitol Fourth celebration... just need to read the lyrics and chill pic.twitter.com/JUE60cTXZL
— 𝙰𝚕𝚍𝚘 𝙶𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚊 (@AldoBarkeeper) July 3, 2021
According to the NAACP, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was written as a poem by organization leader James Weldon Johnson in 1900, and his brother, John Rosamond Johnson, later wrote the music to accompany the words. Although the song has been a staple of Black culture, Beyoncé significantly increased its visibility when she sang it during her landmark Coachella performance in 2018.
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