![]() Underside: "Reproduction of a Work of Art / Created by / AUGUSTA SAVAGE / "LIFE EVERY VOICE AND SING" / NOW ON EXHIBIT / AT THE / NEW YORK WORLD'S FAIR / Augusta Savage Studios, Inc. ![]() Inscribed On base: "Augusta Savage" and "Worlds Fair 1939" Included in nearly 40 hymnals, Lift Every Voice and Sing is an essential piece for innumerable choirs and distinguished soloists across America. Article continues below advertisement James’s poem was later developed into a song by his brother, Rosamond. Printed paper label on bottom designating publication by Augusta Savage Studios, Inc., at 143 West 125th Street. Lift every voice and sing, ’til earth and heaven ring, ring with the harmonies of Liberty, the lyrics begin, continuing with, Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies, let it resound loud as the rolling sea. Incised signature and “Worlds Fair 1939” at the base. : Lift Every Voice and Sing African American National Anthem for Orchestra and Choir and audience: 0754207808388: poem by James Weldon Johnson. It survives only through small-scale replicas like this one.ĭescription Sculpture (white metal cast with black patina) depicting 12 singers in the form of a harp. It was demolished after the event-smashed by bulldozers as part of the fair’s cleanup. Savage lacked the funds to cast the original work in bronze and to pay for a facility to store it. A choir of 500 schoolchildren at the segregated Stanton School, where James. One of the most popular works of art at the fair, it was seen by over 5 million visitors and received high praise in the press. His brother, John Rosamond Johnson (1873-1954), composed the music for the lyrics. The sculpture stood prominently near one of the entrances to the fair in the court of the Contemporary Arts Building. It was the only commission at the 1939 World’s Fair from a black woman artist. Savage’s original 16-foot sculpture was an extraordinary accomplishment that defied systemic period sexism and the institutionalized racism of Jim Crow. “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was written as a poem by Savage’s friend James Weldon Johnson in 1900, set to music by his brother John Rosamond Johnson in 1905, and declared the “Negro National Anthem” by the NAACP in 1919. The composition casts the singers as instruments of God and in so doing highlights the religiosity of its source material. Rosamond Johnson, arranged by Roland Carter for SATB choirs with a piano accompaniment. And the hand and arm of God stand in for the sounding board. Lift Every Voice and Sing with music by J. The folds of choir robes worn by twelve stylized young black singers in graduated heights form the strings of the harp. ![]() A kneeling man holding a rectangular plate represents the foot pedal. ![]() ![]() 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 mightLed 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.Lift Every Voice and Sing is the signature work by Harlem Renaissance artist, activist, and educator Augusta Savage. 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 feetCome 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,'Til now we stand at lastWhere the white gleam of our bright star is cast. Lift ev'ry voice and sing, 'Til earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of Liberty Let our rejoicing rise High as the list'ning 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 'til victory is won. It was first performed in public in the Johnsons' hometown of Jacksonville, Florida as part of a celebration of Lincoln's Birthday on Februby a choir of 500 schoolchildren at the segregated Stanton School, where James Weldon Johnson was principal. It was written as a poem by James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) and then set to music by his brother John Rosamond Johnson (1873-1954) in 1899. Lift Every Voice and Sing is often called "The Black National Anthem". ![]()
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