<P> "Lift Every Voice and Sing"--often referred to as the "Black / African - American National Anthem"--is a song written as a poem by James Weldon Johnson (1871--1938) in 1900 and set to music by his brother John Rosamond Johnson (1873--1954) in 1905 . </P> <P> "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 . </P> <P> In 1939, Augusta Savage received a commission from the New York World's Fair and created a 16 - foot (5 m) plaster sculpture called Lift Every Voice and Sing which was destroyed by bulldozers at the close of the fair . </P>

When did lift every voice and sing became black national anthem