Today, in the moments before the match of the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs, singer Sheryl Lee Ralph performed the song Raise every voice, also known as the black anthemfirst performed 123 years ago on February 12, 1900.

“It’s no coincidence that I sing it on the same date,” says Ralph. “Happy Black History Month!”

Lift (and sing) every voice is a hymn with words by James Weldon Johnson and music by J. Rosamond Johnson, a prayer of thanksgiving, faithfulness and freedom, with images from the biblical Book of Exodus.

Was the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) who called it the ‘black anthem’, and this decision has been widely criticized for several reasons: it sounds ‘separatist’ and is ‘offensive’ to the flag of starsthe national anthem of the United States.

But the NAACP maintains its position that the national anthem has been adopted by interracial groups in the hope that there are only full citizens in American society.

It was performed by the Manhattan Harmony Four group, in a famous 1923 recording now part of the National Recording Registry, but it can also be heard in the voice of James Brown, Anita Baker, Dionne Warwick, Bobby Brown, Stevie Wonder, Jeffrey Osborne and others.

Barack Obama’s family sang it at the White House in 2014.

Beyoncé included it in her 2018 Coachella performance.

And it has become more relevant since the public demonstrations and protests over the death of George Floyd, due to police brutality, in 2020.

The NFL, often in trouble for its treatment of black players, announced in 2020 that the national anthem would be part of pregame ceremonies at games, as part of a social campaign to recognize the movement. Black lives matter. This includes the Super Bowl. AND The one chosen to open this new stage was Alicia Keys, in a pre-recorded performance that was repeated in the 2021 Super Bowl. (E)