African American
National Anthem
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 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.
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 of 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 hast 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.
Least 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.
