The NFL is reportedly planning to play “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” known as the Black national anthem, ahead of all of this season’s week one contests. The national anthem of the United States, The Star-Spangled Banner, will follow each performance.
The decision to perform or play Lift Every Voice and Sing has not been officially announced by the NFL, but a source familiar with the league’s discussions shared the news with The Undefeated.
Lift Every Voice and Sing would be introduced with the nationally televised regular-season opener, which takes place on September 10th. The Kansas City Chiefs, the defending Super Bowl Champions, will host the Houston Texans.
The song would also be played during the full slate of the NFL’s Week One Sunday afternoon games, during Sunday Night Football and during the two ESPN Monday night games.
According to the NAACP, Lift Every Voice and Sing was first written as a poem by James Weldon Johnson.
Johnson’s brother John Rosamond Johnson, set the poem to music in 1899 and it was first performed in 1900 as part of a celebration of former president Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, with a choir singing the song at the segregated Stanton School in Jacksonville, Florida, where James worked as principal.
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