By Robert Wright
A Speech Given at Louisiana Delta Community College – February 29, 2024
On January 20, 2009, one of the greatest voices to ever strike a tune stepped up to the microphone to an audience of thousands along the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It was a typically cold January morning and the stage was set, the masses were on their feet and the dignitaries of the hour were in their place ready to receive what would come as a momentous victory for African-American vocal abilities in the history of America. The Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin bellowed a beautifully crafted rendition of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” and moved the nation, if not the world, with her repetitive “Let it Let it Let it Let it” as bells rang, ushering in the new President of the United States…a Black Man.
Four years prior to Franklin singing for the President of the United States on the steps of the US Capitol, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush and was lauded for her lifetime of achieving and for helping to shape our nation’s artistic and cultural heritage.
What measure of woman of color that Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama would find her unique, artistic, and a great credit to the American artistic and cultural heritage? 70 years prior to Mrs. Franklin singing on the steps of the US Capitol, another Black woman set the stage for the many black singers to come after her, lifting their voices. Marion Anderson, an internationally celebrated singer, was denied an opportunity to sing at the Constitution Hall in Washington D.C. when the Daughters of the American Revolution refused her the stage. It took pressure of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to get her access to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to sing before thousands, the press, and live radio broadcasting. Like Franklin, who sang 70 years later, she sang “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”.
On January 27, 1991 in Tampa, Florida, the National Football League would invite a 27-year-old Black singer to kick of Super Bowl 25 by a performance of the National Anthem. Whitney Houston’s epic performance of “The Star Spangled Banner” was celebrated around the country and the recording of it is still played at public events in lieu of live singers.
The Star-Spangled Banner……My Country ‘Tis of Thee. These are two iconic anthems of the American spirit and the American experience. There has been much debate about the nature of these songs as they attest to a utopian version of America. One in which many never get the chance to experience. One nation….under God…indivisible….with liberty AND justice for ALL. When Anderson and Franklin sang about a “sweet land of liberty” and Houston sang about “a flag that stood high even after the bombs were bursting in air” were they speaking about a real place that even they called home? Could millions of Black Americans hear their voice and believe that it was possible?
While My Country ‘Tis of Thee and “The Star-Spangled Banner” may celebrate the America that could be, they often fall short of addressing the recipe which would bake that cake.
For over 100 years, Black musicians and singers have exercised their 1st Amendment right to speech and expression, their chosen medium….their voices. We’ve often been reminded that violence to achieve liberty and justice often ends in unnecessary bloodshed and an unlikely conclusion of the original objective. In our celebration of African American Entertainment and the Arts, we take a look at how ingenious Black writers and singers have been in using their voices to contribute to the fight for justice and equality.
In 1900, James Weldon Johnson, a school principal and accomplished musician, wrote a poem for his 500 schoolchildren to perform in honor of President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. He entitled the poem “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing”. His brother John took his poem and set it to music of which the kids sang. Since 1900, it has passed on through successive generations and labeled “The Negro National Anthem”. Interestingly, America had a Black National Anthem twelve years before America had a “National Anthem”. It brings into question the relevance of the song and the strength of its lyrics to spread throughout the country, capturing the hearts and minds of African-Americans in early 20th century.
At its core, James Weldon’s poem is a protest song, however it is one that offers a problem and a solution all in one, a feat that even Francis Scott Key’s poem doesn’t do. It is also a song about victory. Being such, would this be a preferred anthem played before basketball and football games? What victory? Johnson wrote about victory over America’s past sins of prejudice, racism, slavery, torture, and human and sex trafficking. These are touchy subjects in modern discourse as many in the ruling classes prefer to erase these truths from textbooks and classroom curriculums. America’s ugly past is deeply rooted in its foundation as a nation. It’s not just the past….for it currently is alive and well today. An ever present cancer that won’t go away just because we choose to look the other way or deny its existence.
Nearly every generation since James Weldon Johnson has taken up the torch and lifted their voices. Within each was a writer, singer, or orator who used their talents to paint a picture. It’s said “A picture is worth a thousand words”. For these black intellectuals, A thousand words takes the place of one bigger picture.
In 1930, a Jewish teacher was alarmed by photographs he saw of two Black men being lynched in Indiana. He sat down to write a poem which described what he felt about the images. His poem is the famous “Strange Fruit” which was later put to music and passed on to a nightclub owner. At the time, a popular night club singer, Billie Holiday, a black woman, was chosen to bring life into the song.
“Southern trees bear a strange fruit, Blood on the leaves and blood at he root, Black body swinging in the Southern breeze, Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees”. The song was personal to Holiday as her father died as a result of health complications. The hospital would not admit him because he was black. To her, that was just as much a hanging.
It did not come without consequences. Strange Fruit, like Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing, is a protest song. As popular a songstress Holiday was, not every white patron who listened to her in whites-only clubs were pleased with the lyrics. Of course the lyrics were as brutal as the atrocities they depicted. However, even in modern America, critical race theory in the 1930s was just as damning….actions in the past that many would care to distance themselves from. Because Holiday refused to stop singing the song of which whites at the time classified as “devil’s music” they devised a plan to silence her. Holiday was a drug user and they wanted to prove that drugs makes black singers sing those types of lyrics. They framed her with heroin and had her arrested and jailed. After a return to the stage, she later began using the drugs again and in her demise, her life ended the same way her father’s did….with the denial of treatment in a hospital.
The 20th century, especially the Jim Crow early 20th century, was filled with lynchings, torture, and denial of human rights to African-Americans. Before he century would end, Time magazine designated “Strange Fruit” as the song of the century. Interestingly, Holiday took the heat for the lyrics when a Jewish man wrote them. However, it took the brilliance and creative voice of a Black singer to bring it to life.
Strange Fruit was a protest song. Billie Holliday had a song in her heart, a protest to make. She lifted her voice and sang. But the bigger picture still remains today….just because we try to deny lynchings, rape, torture and human trafficking happened in this country doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. In our attempts to forget it ever happened we only prolong the healing this country needs.
In the 1940s, a series of psychological tests were given to black children famously known as the “Doll Tests”. Kenneth and Mamie Clark, black psychologists, used the tests as an investigation into how Black children viewed themselves. The children being tested had to choose between white dolls and black dolls as one that was the preferred doll to play with. The theory formed from the experiment was that as a result of the racist society the kids lived in, they preferred the white dolls to the black dolls. The black dolls represented negative energy and the white dolls were something that stood for positivity.
To answer this decade’s old problem, in 1968, another Black musical genius responded to the negativity of the day with a song that is still a powerful anthem. “Say it Loud…I’m Black and I’m Proud” wrote Grammy Award Winner James Brown. “I worked on jobs with my feet and my hands, but all the work I did was for the other man. Now we demand a chance to do things for ourselves, we’re tired of beating our head against the wall and working for someone else. Say it Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud.”
James Brown, like James Weldon Johnson, focused on the ‘hope that the present had brought us’. Known for his creative groove and fantastic stage performances, the Godfather of Soul would eventually not just be an entertainer. His music and politics met at a crossroads and he, like the others, used his voice to speak out against the injustice of his time. Another generation….same fight…same struggle…same duty to uphold. A torch lifted to pass on to the next generation.
On May 25, 2020, when most of the world was masked because of COVID-19, racism’s ugly head unmasked itself once again in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 46-year-old George Floyd was arrested by police officers and during the altercation, officer Derek Chauvin, a white man, knelt on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds. Floyd was handcuffed face down on a hot pavement. The incident was captured on video and the world had another view of how America still treated its citizens. A nation that adopted the Geneva Conventions Provisions.
George Floyd can be heard in the recording over 20 times stating “I can’t breathe”. Unfortunately, the officer didn’t think his protest was relevant in his response “It takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk.”
Racial tensions in the midst of a global pandemic were at an all-time high. There were no video recordings of the strange fruit handing from poplar trees. There were no cell phone video posts on social media of the riots across the nation in 1968. However, there were plenty to share in 2020 in wake of George Floyd’s demise.
Another generation of Black voices answered the call. On July 12, 2020, Atlanta rapper Dominique Armani Jones, better known as Lil Baby, offered the song “The Bigger Picture”. The song peaked in the Top 10 of Billboard’s Top 100. In his lyrics, he commented on the systemic racism and police brutality in wake of the death of George Floyd.
Baby says: “They know that we a problem together…they know that we can storm any weather. It’s bigger than black and white. It’s a problem with the whole way of life. It can’t change overnight, but we gotta start somewhere…might as well gon’ head start here.”
The voice of another generation….still singing the same tune. Still lifting his voice to sing. From James Weldon Johnson, to Billie Holliday, to James Brown, and now Lil Baby. Singing (or rapping) in the voice of his generation, protesting the same systemic problems America still lives with. The cancer that will not go away…and yet we still attempt to carryon as if it doesn’t exist, hoping the problem will just go away on its on.
Through every generation of protest, we hear the words of Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing and We Shall Overcome. Deep in My Heart, I do believe, we shall overcome someday.
It’s great to know the names of Black artists, musicians, and entertainers. Its great to pause once a year in February to showcase what Black people are capable of doing. Some still question the relevance of Black History Month. Celebrated Black Actor Morgan Freeman once said in an interview with Mike Wallace that Black History Month is ridiculous. “You’re gonna relegate my history to a month” he asked. He said there is no need for Black History as an island. “Black History is American History” he said. His recipe for ending racism is to stop talking about it. He suggested that we eliminate the labels white and black and refer to each other by name and as fellow Americans.
The fallacy behind such suggestion is part of the bigger picture. Whitney Houston’s “Star Spangled Banner” and Aretha Franklin’s “My Country Tis of Thee” spoke of exactly what Morgan Freeman described….the utopian version of America. One that we strive to get to but one that we are far from obtaining.
We don’t get to the day of overcoming by ignoring the problem. Black History Month is necessary, but it must evolve. Morgan Freeman was correct. Black History is American History. There would be no American History without Black people. White and black lives are so intertwined that it is inherently impossible to just magically separate them.
The bigger picture is that we are more alike than we are apart. Change the perceptions. Correct the misconceptions. The bigger picture is that an America that is good for Black people will be an America that is good for white people too. But it can’t be if it picks sides.
Why did it take so long for Simone Manuel to prove that Black women could swim? All those years of denying African-Americans access to public swimming pools cost America. It costs whites and blacks alike. Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson were the World Heavyweight Champions, not because they fought other Black fighters, but they went toe to toe with the best. You want to be in the ring with the best and you should feel unfulfilled if you won a trophy or a belt knowing you didn’t win against the best players or the best teams available.
Denying Black Americans a chance to compete in sports, business, entertainment, or any other profession costs America.
Let’s cut those costs and start doing it the right way. As Lil Baby said “We gotta start somewhere…might as well gon’ head start here.”And until that day comes, we must continue to lift every voice and sing. We must continue to use our brilliance and creativity to get the message out that there is still work to be done. The race is not complete and just because we put a Black Man in the White House….there are still glass ceilings to break.
We must continue to lift our voices. We must continue, with every generation, to do what we can to bring about that new day we envision.
Let us keep painting, singing, writing, rapping, and working to bring about liberty and justice for all. Facing the rising sun, of our new day begun, let us march on till victory is won.
Robert Wright is a native of Monroe. He has a Master of Arts Degree in History and is currently an Instructor of History at the University of Louisiana Monroe.
