Singing the Nation Into Being: Anthems and the Politics of Performance

This site features a collection of performances of James Weldon Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by a variety of singers in various milieu to consider the ways in which Black subjectivity, nation, and diaspora are constituted and contested vis-à-vis singing of “The Black National Anthem.” Although this project focuses primarily on black women’s performances to examine how their public enactments of nation critique raced and gendered notions of belonging, the site offers a range of performers—small groups, individuals, choirs, mashups, etc.—and a variety of vocal and presentation stylings from a cappella to concert performances to short filmic enactments. “Singing the Nation Into Being” invites us to examine the ways in which each performance highlights the strategies enacted through the textual, sonic, and bodied performance of a “nation with a nation” (DuBois) as well as the limits of these performance.

The idea for this project was born in 2011, inspired by a remark by poet Amiri Baraka that there was “more to that song…a lot more.” This small remark in the context of a larger program, led me to consider the multiple ways in which “Lift Every Voice and Sing” speaks  to the demands, the desires, and the excesses in the discourses on identity and national belonging. These performances, which carry their own and separate vocal politics might help us to better understand nation—or understand differently the meaning of belonging, if we, perhaps, attune our ears to these different enactments. Each video invites us to reflect on the role that music, performance, and the negotiations with text, sound, and meaning play in these enactments.

For this site, I use videos found primarily on YouTube. I chose YouTube as my primary source because of the availability not just of the song, but also because of the visual representations and the available metadata. In my analyses, I consider not only the recordings but also the relationship of the comments section, metrics, and other available data and how they, too, contribute to a deeper understanding of the meaning of these performances. I also hope to answer a question my students frequently ask: “What does this do?” I interpret this question as a demand that DH work not just articulate a scholar’s research and perspective but also perform some active function in visible and meaningful ways. As the project evolves, we will open the space to the community, inviting the public to contribute to a (re)construction of this sonic history of “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” I consider this a bridge to connect those both inside and outside the walls of academia in meaningful discourse.

 

 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.