Sing a Song

How Lift Every Voice and Sing Inspired Generations

Author  Kelly Starling Lyons Illustrated by  Keith Mallett
Sing a Song

This stirring book celebrates the history of the song "Lift Every Voice and Sing"—aka the Black National Anthem—and how it inspired five generations of a family.

Now in paperback.

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.

In Jacksonville, Florida, two brothers, one of them the principal of a segregated, all-black school, wrote the song "Lift Every Voice and Sing" so his students could sing it for a tribute to Abraham Lincoln's birthday in 1900. From that moment on, the song has provided inspiration and solace for generations of Black families. Mothers and fathers passed it on to their children who sang it to their…