"Lift Every Voice and Sing '' was publicly performed first as a poem as part of a celebration of Abraham Lincoln 's birthday on February 12, 1900, by 500 school children at the segregated Stanton School in Jacksonville, Florida. Its principal, James Weldon Johnson, wrote the words to introduce its honored guest Booker T. Washington. The poem was set to music in 1905 by Johnson 's brother John. In 1919, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) dubbed it "The Negro National Anthem '' for its power in voicing the cry for liberation and affirmation for African - American people.
when did lift every voice and sing became black national anthem
1919