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The African American National Anthem

LIFT EV'RY VOICE AND SING

Lift ev-'ry voice and sing, Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise, High as the listening skies,
Let is 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 till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod, Bitter the chastning 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 people sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered
We have come, treading our path thro' the blood of the slaughtered;
Out from the gloomy past, Till now we stand at last,
Where the bright gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who hast by thy might, Led us in to the light
Keep us for ever 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 for ever stand,
True to our God, True to our native land.

Text: James W. Johnson. 1871-1938
 

Slave with an Iron Muzzle

If a slave was recalcitrant or was suspected of eating more than their portion of food or drinking more than their portion of water, they would be fitted with an Iron Muzzle to prevent their eating and drinking unless authorized by the Slave Master as described by an autobiographer in 1839.