Happy Talk Storytime Presents James Weldon Johnson - "Lift Every Voice and Sing"

Hello World,

Welcome to Happy Talk Storytime.  This is Gloria Stanley, your host with the most compelling stories from coast-to-coast.  Happy Talk Storytime is a family friendly segment of Happy Talk Radio designed to inspire your mind, body and soul in the totality of happiness.

February is known as Black History Month, a time of reflection and thanking God for provision through the struggle to FREEDOM for people of color.

What does Freedom mean to the Black Man today?  The compelling song "Lift Every Voice and Sing" by James Weldon Johnson was initially a poem composed to music that still to date inspires hope, strength and perseverence for freedom. 

"Lift Every Voice and Sing" is referred to as the Black National Anthem because it posseses the power to eradicate hate for peace; sorrow for strength; and hope for a better tomorrow, free. 

James Weldon Johnson was an American writer and civil rights activist. He was married to civil rights activist Grace Nail Johnson. Johnson was a leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, where he started working in 1917. In 1920, he was chosen as executive secretary of the organization, effectively the operating officer. He served in that position from 1920 to 1930. Johnson established his reputation as a writer, and was known during the Harlem Renaissance for his poems, novel and anthologies collecting both poems and spirituals of Black culture. He wrote the lyrics for "Lift Every Voice and Sing", which later became known as the Black National Anthem, the music being written by his younger brother, composer J. Rosamond Johnson.

Tonight, we will journey the life of James Weldon Johnson to "Lift Every Voice and Sing" right here on Happy Talk Storytime.  So, find a comfy pillar to relax the meaning of dignity and pride of freedom from the eyes of James Weldon Johnson.