Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss. ( )

Goodreads Review:
Just in time for the 120th anniversary of the song "Lift Every Voice and Sing"--this stirring book celebrates the Black National Anthem and how it inspired five generations of a family.

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us.
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us.

In 1900, in Jacksonville, Florida, two brothers, one of them the principal of a segregated, all-black school, wrote the song "Lift Every Voice and Sing" so his students could sing it for a tribute to Abraham Lincoln's birthday. From that moment on, the song has provided inspiration and solace for generations of Black families. Mothers and fathers passed it on to their children who sang it to their children and grandchildren. It has been sung during major moments of the Civil Rights Movement and at family gatherings and college graduations.
Inspired by this song's enduring significance, Kelly Starling Lyons and Keith Mallett tell a story about the generations of families who gained hope and strength from the song's inspiring words.

Author Kelly Starling Lyons conveys the 120-year history of the Black National Anthem through generations of one family.

The hymn was composed by James Weldon Johnson and his brother, John Rosamond Johnson, to be sung during a celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday in 1900. As we learn in the Author’s Note at the end of the book, James Weldon Johnson was the principal of a segregated all-Black school in Florida. For the memorial celebration, he had his students sing the song in a chorus of five hundred voices.

Inspired by it, the students passed it on to their offspring. Within a couple of decades, Lyons writes, it became the official song of the NAACP and was sung all during the Civil Rights Movement.

And so it went down through the years, with significant moments in black history captured in the book along the way, and with the lyrics brought into the story. (They are also reproduced in full on the front and back matter of the book.)

Lyons notes that “Today, Lift Every Voice and Sing’ is a symbol of faith, brilliance, resistance, and resilience.”

Illustrator Keith Mallett shows this song being sung through the years, with faces of the singers showing warmth, inspiration, and hope. ( )

I thought this book did a great job of going through the history of the African American community. The book started from generations that dated back to 1900. The book is a chain of singing a song through all the generations during the good times and the hard times. It lead up to current day (when written) to President Barack Obama being president. It states in the book, "A dream born a century ago- to honor Black lives and contributions- had finally come true. The National Museum of African American History and culture was officially open." This was a big moment in history. What I didn't like about the book was that I felt like it was just listing events that had happened, rather than put together through a story. The only thing that related the stories was the song, but it never gave the story behind the song, other than it was passed down through generations. ( )

Lovely. Reminds me of Show Way. ( )