美国国家公共电台 NPR Till Victory Is Won: The Staying Power Of 'Lift Every Voice And Sing'

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

"Lift Every Voice And Sing" is a song that has a lot of meaning for many African-Americans. For generations, it's been sung in schools, in churches and in dozens of recordings¹ and landmark² performances. Motown's Kim Weston sang it in front of almost 100,000 people in 1972 at the Wattstax concert in Los Angeles.

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KIM WESTON: (Singing) Lift every voice and sing...

KING: Singer Melba Moore released an all-star version with Stevie Wonder, Anita Baker³, Dionne Warwick and others in 1990.

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MELBA MOORE: (Singing) Let our rejoicing rise high as the listening sky...

KING: And this year, Beyonce sang it at Coachella.

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BEYONCE: (Singing) High as the listening sky...

KING: What is it about "Lift Every Voice And Sing" that speaks to people so much that it's been called the black national anthem⁴? NPR's Claudette Lindsay-Habermann has the story for our series American Anthem.

CLAUDETTE LINDSAY-HABERMANN, BYLINE⁵: The Morgan State University Choir⁶ opens all its concerts with "Lift Every Voice And Sing."

MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY CHOIR: (Singing) Lift every voice and sing...

LINDSAY-HABERMANN: At the Oxford⁷ Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, the entire congregation rose as one. They sang along, beaming with pride.

MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY CHOIR: (Singing) Lift every voice and sing - let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies. Let it resound⁸ loud as the rolling sea. Lift every voice and sing.

LINDSAY-HABERMANN: Eric Conway is the director of the Morgan State University Choir.

ERIC CONWAY: What a great way to begin a concert, asking everyone in the audience to actually lift up their voice as well. We all have a voice.

LINDSAY-HABERMANN: Shannon Patterson was in the audience. She has been singing "Lift Every Voice And Sing" since she was in elementary school.

SHANNON PATTERSON: We were proud. And so we could lift our voices and sing in spite of the difficulties and the situations.

LINDSAY-HABERMANN: This song is about transcending⁹ those difficulties. The first verse opens with a command to optimism, praise and freedom - lift every voice and sing till earth and heaven ring.

MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY CHOIR: (Singing) Lift every voice and sing till earth and heaven ring, ring with the harmonies of liberty - lift every voice and sing.

LINDSAY-HABERMANN: The second verse reminds us to never forget the suffering and the obstacles of the past - stony¹⁰ the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod.

MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY CHOIR: (Singing) Stony the road we trod - sing a song - bitter the chastening rod - sing a song - felt in the days when hope - sing a song - unborn had died. Sing a song - yet with a steady...

LINDSAY-HABERMANN: The third and final stanza¹¹ is about the challenges of the future. They are to be met with perseverance¹², courage, faith and trust in God. Keep us forever in thy path, we pray.

MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY CHOIR: (Singing) Keep us forever in thy path, we pray.

LINDSAY-HABERMANN: "Lift Every Voice And Sing" was written at a pivotal time in the United States, when Jim Crow was replacing slavery and African-Americans were searching for an identity. Author and activist¹³ James Weldon Johnson wrote the words as a poem. His brother John set it to music. Two key events led to it first being named the "Negro National Anthem." In 1905, Booker T. Washington endorsed¹⁴ it. In 1919, it became the official song of the NAACP. Derrick Johnson is the NAACP's president.

DERRICK JOHNSON: It spoke¹⁵ of the history, the dark journey African-Americans and, for that matter, many Africans in the diaspora struggled through to get to a place to have hope.

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WESTON: (Singing) Sing a song...

LINDSAY-HABERMANN: Here is Kim Weston again from the 1972 concert Wattstax.

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WESTON: (Singing) ...Full of the hope that the present has brought us...

LINDSAY-HABERMANN: "Lift Every Voice And Sing" became a rallying cry for black communities, especially in the South - but not just for black communities. Timothy Askew¹⁶ is an English professor at Clark Atlanta University and a scholar of "Lift Every Voice And Sing."

TIMOTHY ASKEW: Even during days of segregation¹⁷, there were Southern white churches, people from those churches, who wrote to James Weldon Johnson and who said, we're singing that song you call a black national anthem.

LINDSAY-HABERMANN: The song spread around the world - Japan, South Africa. Today "Lift Every Voice And Sing" is included in nearly 30 different Christian¹⁸ hymnals, both black and white. Even the Mormon Tabernacle Choir has performed it.

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MORMON TABERNACLE CHOIR: (Singing) God of our weary years, God of our silent tears...

LINDSAY-HABERMANN: The entire nation heard lyrics¹⁹ from "Lift Every Voice And Sing" in 2009, when civil rights leader Reverend Joseph Lowery gave the benediction²⁰ at President Barack Obama's first inauguration²¹.

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JOSEPH LOWERY: God of our weary years, God of our silent tears...

LINDSAY-HABERMANN: Shana Redmond is a professor at UCLA who studies music, race and politics. She wrote a book on black anthems²² and says, this one tells us the struggle continues for voting rights, equal education and against police brutality²³. When a broader audience hears "Lift Every Voice And Sing," they are made aware of those struggles.

SHANA REDMOND: It continues to announce that we see this brighter future, that we believe something will change and we will make that possible by marching, by being present, by collectivizing.

LINDSAY-HABERMANN: The reach of "Lift Every Voice And Sing" continues to expand. When Beyonce sang it at Coachella, she knew the mostly white audience didn't know the history of the black national anthem. But, she told Vogue²⁴ magazine, they understood the feeling it gave them.

Claudette Lindsay-Habermann, NPR News.

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BEYONCE: (Singing) Lift every voice and sing...

1 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

2 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

3 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

4 anthem   

n.圣歌，赞美诗，颂歌

参考例句：

• All those present were standing solemnly when the national anthem was played.奏国歌时全场肃立。
• As he stood on the winner's rostrum,he sang the words of the national anthem.他站在冠军领奖台上，唱起了国歌。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 choir   

n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• The church choir is singing tonight.今晚教堂歌唱队要唱诗。

7 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

8 resound   

v.回响

参考例句：

• A roar of approval resounded through the Ukrainian parliament.一片赞成声在乌克兰议会中回响。
• The soldiers' boots resounded in the street.士兵的军靴踏在地面上的声音在大街上回响。

9 transcending   

超出或超越（经验、信念、描写能力等）的范围( transcend的现在分词 )； 优于或胜过…

参考例句：

• She felt herself transcending time and space. 她感到自己正在穿越时空。
• It'serves as a skeptical critic of the self-transcending element. 它对于超越自身因素起着一个怀疑论批评家的作用。

10 stony   

adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的

参考例句：

• The ground is too dry and stony.这块地太干，而且布满了石头。
• He listened to her story with a stony expression.他带着冷漠的表情听她讲经历。

11 stanza   

n.（诗）节，段

参考例句：

• We omitted to sing the second stanza.我们漏唱了第二节。
• One young reporter wrote a review with a stanza that contained some offensive content.一个年轻的记者就歌词中包含有攻击性内容的一节写了评论。

12 perseverance   

n.坚持不懈，不屈不挠

参考例句：

• It may take some perseverance to find the right people.要找到合适的人也许需要有点锲而不舍的精神。
• Perseverance leads to success.有恒心就能胜利。

13 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

14 endorsed   

vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• The committee endorsed an initiative by the chairman to enter discussion about a possible merger. 委员会通过了主席提出的新方案，开始就可能进行的并购进行讨论。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The government has broadly endorsed a research paper proposing new educational targets for 14-year-olds. 政府基本上支持建议对14 岁少年实行新教育目标的研究报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

16 askew   

adv.斜地；adj.歪斜的

参考例句：

• His glasses had been knocked askew by the blow.他的眼镜一下子被打歪了。
• Her hat was slightly askew.她的帽子戴得有点斜。

17 segregation   

n.隔离，种族隔离

参考例句：

• Many school boards found segregation a hot potato in the early 1960s.在60年代初，许多学校部门都觉得按水平分班是一个棘手的问题。
• They were tired to death of segregation and of being kicked around.他们十分厌恶种族隔离和总是被人踢来踢去。

18 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

19 lyrics   

n.歌词

参考例句：

• music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart 由罗杰斯和哈特作词作曲
• The book contains lyrics and guitar tablatures for over 100 songs. 这本书有100多首歌的歌词和吉他奏法谱。

20 benediction   

n.祝福；恩赐

参考例句：

• The priest pronounced a benediction over the couple at the end of the marriage ceremony.牧师在婚礼结束时为新婚夫妇祈求上帝赐福。
• He went abroad with his parents' benediction.他带着父母的祝福出国去了。

21 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

22 anthems   

n.赞美诗( anthem的名词复数 )；圣歌；赞歌；颂歌

参考例句：

• They usually play the national anthems of the teams at the beginning of a big match. 在大型赛事开始前，他们通常演奏参赛国国歌。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rise please, rise for the anthems of & . 请全体起立，奏和两国国歌。 来自互联网

23 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军

24 Vogue   

n.时髦，时尚；adj.流行的

参考例句：

• Flowery carpets became the vogue.花卉地毯变成了时髦货。
• Short hair came back into vogue about ten years ago.大约十年前短发又开始流行起来了。