May We Forever Stand

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by Imani Perry

20. Although the official change to Black History Month wouldn’t be declared until 1976, some organizations were already designating February Black History Month in the early 1970s.

  21. James Thomas Jackson, Waiting in Line at the Drugstore and Other Writings of James Thomas Jackson (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 1993), 247–48.

  22. Andrea Juliette Lightbourne, “Shining through the Clouds: An Historical Case Study of a Segregated School in Tucson, Arizona” (PhD diss., University of Arizona, 2004), 236, UMI no. 3158122.

  23. Adelaide Cromwell, The Other Brahmins: Boston’s Black Upper Class, 1750–1950 (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1994).

  24. Adelaide Cromwell Hill, “Black Education in the Seventies: A Lesson from the Past,” in The Black Seventies, ed. Floyd B. Barbour (Boston: Porter Sargent, 1970), 64.

  25. Oral History Interview with Joanne Peerman, February 24, 2001, interview K-0557, Southern Oral History Program Collection (no. 4007), Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

  26. Kenneth L. Fish, “More ‘Soul’ Needed in White Teachers,” Clearing House 46, no. 8 (April 1972): 502.

  27. Mary Eleanor Rhodes Hoover, “The Nairobi Day School: An African American Independent School, 1966–1984,” Journal of Negro Education 61, no. 2 (Spring 1992): 203.

  28. Ibid.

  29. Ibid., 206.

  30. Ibid., 205.

  31. Orde Coombs, “The Necessity of Excellence: I. Nairobi College,” Change 5, no. 3 (April 1973): 42.

  32. John Egerton, “Success Comes to Nairobi College,” Change 4 (May 1972): 25–27.

  33. Coombs, “The Necessity of Excellence: I. Nairobi College,” 44.

  34. Ibid.

  35. Martha Biondi, The Black Revolution on Campus (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012), 222.

  36. Hansonia Caldwell and Hale Smith, “A Man of Many Parts,” Black Perspective in Music 3, no. 1 (Spring 1975): 74.

  37. Angelika Beener, “Five Jazz Songs That Speak of the Freedom Struggle,” National Public Radio, June 19, 2012, http://www.npr.org/sections/ablogsupreme/2012/06/18/155318747/five-jazz-songs-which-speak-of-the-freedom-struggle (retrieved December 16, 2015).

  38. Willard Jenkins, “Roy Haynes: Force of Nature,” Jazz Times, November 1997, http://jazztimes.com/articles/24743-roy-haynes-force-of-nature (retrieved December 16, 2015).

  39. Vivian Williams, New York Amsterdam News, April 26, 1969.

  40. Roger Ebert, “Brewster McCloud Review,” RogerEbert.com, December 24, 1970, http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/brewster-mccloud-1970 (retrieved December 16, 2015).

  41. “Lena Horne to Present Black Artists in Tribute to Late Dr. Bethune,” Pittsburgh Courier, January 8, 1972.

  42. Stella G. White, “Negro Anthem Worth Hearing,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 23, 1970.

  43. Quoted in Bond and Wilson, Lift Every Voice and Sing, 252.

  44. John Hope Franklin, Gerald Horne, Harold W. Cruse, Allen B. Ballard, and Reavis L. Mitchell Jr., “Black History Month: Serious Truth Telling or a Triumph in Tokenism?,” Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 18 (Winter 1997–98): 91.

  45. Shana Redmond, Anthem: Social Movements and the Sound of Solidarity (New York: New York University Press, 2013), 192.

  46. Robert Hayden and Michael Harper, “Robert Hayden and Michael Harper: A Literary Friendship,” Callaloo 17, no. 4 (Autumn 1994): 980–1016.

  47. Paule Marshall, Triangular Road: A Memoir (New York: Basic Books, 2010), 157.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  1. Cuda Brown, “Meanderings 1.06,” June 11, 1994, http://www.newsavanna.com/meanderings/me106/me10602.html (retrieved December 20, 2015).

  2. Stella G. White, “New Level of Black Unity,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 28, 1971.

  3. Chicago Metro News, May 7, 1986, 17.

  4. David Schultz, “David’s Notes,” Chicago Metro News, February 1, 1986.

  5. Ibid.

  6. Ferman Mentrell Beckless, “Bulls Welcome Singing of Negro Anthem,” Chicago Metro News, February 1, 1986.

  7. Sam Attlesley, “Black Voters: Army without General,” Dallas Morning News, October 29, 1979.

  8. Kenneth R. Walker, “Pessimism Running Deep as Urban League Meets: Recuperating Jordan Addresses Members,” Evening Star/Washington (D.C.) Star, August 4, 1980.

  9. Ibid.

  10. Nathaniel Clay, Clay Images, “How Blacks Can Get out of Poverty,” Chicago Metro News, September 7, 1985.

  11. Beckless, “Bulls Welcome Singing of Negro Anthem.”

  12. Quoted in Julian Bond and Sonya Kathryn Wilson, eds., Lift Every Voice and Sing: A Celebration of the Negro National Anthem, 100 Years, 100 Voices (New York: Random House, 2000).

  13. David Remnick, The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama (New York: Knopf, 2010).

  AFTERWORD

  1. Lara Pellegrinelli, “Poetic License Raises a Star-Spangled Debate,” All Things Considered, National Public Radio, July 3, 2009.

  2. Paul Beatty, Slumberland (London: Bloomsbury, 2008), 226.

  3. Julie Daunt, “Clifford Owens: Pushing the Boundaries of Performance,” Culture Trip, https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/new-york/articles/clifford-owens-pushing-the-boundaries-of-performance/ (retrieved April 15, 2017).

  Index

  A. C. Bilbrew Choir of Los Angeles, 143

  Adams, George, 187

  Adams, Yolanda, 223

  Affirmative action programs, 194, 206–7, 214

  Africa: and European colonialism, 27, 60, 92, 112, 123, 136, 142; home rule for Africans, 32; Marcus Garvey’s inauguration as “president” of, 33; paternalistic assumptions concerning, 36; pageants depicting history of, 41, 42; and postwar settlement, 122; W. E. B. DuBois on, 128; Alphaeus Hunton on, 135–36; Malcolm X in, 165; postcolonial nations in, 168; cultural resources of, 175, 176; aid to, 206. See also specific countries

  African American history: pageants depicting, 40–41, 42; Walter Daykin on, 61–63; and Dunbar High School, Washington, D.C., 78; and curricula, 80, 104; and Negro History Week programs, 89, 91, 96, 97, 98; resources for teaching of, 90; and Carter G. Woodson, 91–92; and Gertrude Parthenia McBrown, 101–2; and out-of-school learning communities, 101–2; and Herb Aptheker, 134; and “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” 194

  African American studies, 11, 92–93

  African Blood Brotherhood (ABB), 55, 56

  African Communities League, 32

  African Legion, 32

  African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, 76, 96, 107

  African National Congress, 208

  Afro-American modernism, 67

  Agricultural Adjustment Administration, 59

  Alabama, 75. See also specific cities

  Alabama Christian Movement for Civil Rights, 152

  Alabama Negro Education Association, 74

  Alabama State Teachers Association, 145

  Alabama State University, 95

  Albany, Ga., 149–52

  Aldridge, Ira, 102

  Ali, Muhammad, 191

  All African People’s Conference (1959), 143

  Alpha Phi Alpha, 129

  Altman, Robert, 190–91

  Aluminum Ore Company, 33

  “Amen,” 200

  “America” (“My Country ‘Tis of Thee”), 37, 102, 114, 115, 121, 141, 174

  American Association of University Women, 137

  American Baptist Publication Society of Philadelphia, 106

  American Communist Party, 134

  American dream, 172, 193, 205–6

  American Federation of Labor (AFL), 56

  Americans All (CBS series), 112–13

  American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), 70–71

  “America the Beautiful,” 84, 86

  Amsterdam News, 190

  Anderson, Benedict, 39

  Anderson, James D., 76, 82

  Anderson, Marian, 97, 195

  Angelou,
Maya: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, 107–9; and “Cabaret for Freedom,” 148–49; The Heart of a Woman, 148–49; interview with Angela Davis, 173–74

  Animism, 40

  Anna T. Strickland Art Club, Fort Smith, Ark., 90

  Antifascist parties, 61

  Antilynching activism, 14, 59

  Aptheker, Herb, 134

  Archibald, Nyota, 177

  Armstrong, Denise, 184

  Armstrong, Louis, 82

  Artis, William, 68

  Art Reynolds Singers, 190

  Asberry, Nettie, 96

  Asia, 112, 123

  Askew, Timothy, xiii

  Assignment America, 173–74

  Assimilation, 16, 170

  Associated Negro Press (ANP), 65, 69

  Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH), 62, 91, 92, 194–95

  Atlanta Daily World, 119, 127

  Atlanta University, 3–4, 30, 40, 79, 80, 95–96

  Attlesley, Sam, 205

  Attucks, Crispus, 84, 102, 162

  Augusta Chronicle, 106

  Austin, Patti, 211

  Azikiwe, Nnamdi, 123, 135

  Bach, J. S., 60

  Baez, Joan, 159

  Bahamas, 1–2, 20

  Bailey, Charity Abigail, 150

  Bailey, Eben H., 16

  Baker, Ella, 147

  Baker, Houston, 67, 92

  Baker, Rachel, 103

  Baker, Scott, 105

  Baldwin, James, 154; The Fire Next Time, 167

  Ballard, Allen B., 195–96

  Baltimore, Md., 224

  Baltimore Afro-American, 37, 46, 56–57

  Banneker, Benjamin, 162

  Baptist Sunday School of Falls Church, Va., 90–91

  Baraka, Amiri, 175–76, 186, 201; “Funk Lore,” 176; Home on the Range, 176, 191

  Barrett, Barren, 211

  Basie, Count, 114

  “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” 32, 86, 96, 111, 121, 199

  Beatty, Paul, Slumberland, 220–21

  Belafonte, Harry, 149, 159, 224

  Benét, Stephen Vincent, 96, 199

  Bennett, Gwendolyn, 70; “To Usward,” 43–44

  Berea College, 79

  Bernardin, Joseph, 203

  Bessemer Voters League, 152–53

  Bethel Literary Society, 233n21

  Bethune, Mary McLeod, 74, 93, 94, 95, 145

  Beulah Rucker Oliver School, Gainesville, Ga., 80–81

  Biggers, Sanford, 221

  Biko, Steven, I Write What I Like, 175

  Biondi, Martha, 133–34, 185

  “Birdsongs at Eventide,” 115

  Birmingham, Ala.: white mob attack on black Americans, 124; black radio stations in, 152, 153; Children’s Crusade of 1963, 152, 156; civil rights movement in, 152–54, 156; bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, 155–56

  Birmingham Industrial High School, 174

  Birmingham World, 153

  Black agency, and NAACP, 32

  Black Americans: as multiracial, 14; racism toward, 14; as hero of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” 19, 20; and Christianity, 20; transnational identity of, 20–21, 42; economic status of, 23, 60, 61; “linked fate” for, 24, 232n47; mobilization of, 25; migration of, 26, 58, 88–89; conflict between, 47, 55; and Democratic Party, 58, 205–6, 210; mixed-race blacks as hybridized, 64; lobbying for public education, 73, 74; mythology of lower intelligence, 80, 104; and conceptions of inferiority, 98, 104, 107, 209; and World War II, 111, 115, 117, 121; ties to black diaspora, 142; and militancy, 167; as consumer base, 192–93, 195, 204, 207–8, 210, 211–12; and Barack Obama, 218–19

  Black artistic production: and black formalism, 11; and “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” 66, 137, 161–62; and Frederick Douglass, 68, 138, 162; and Negro History Week, 93; and SNYC, 124. See also Black Arts Movement; Black musicians; Black writers and literature; Visual arts; and specific artists

  Black Arts Movement, 167, 174, 175–76, 213

  Black associationalism: growth in, 5–6, 8, 16; role of schools in, 72, 86–87, 102, 105; and out-of-school learning communities, 90–91, 101; community and institutional benefits of, 95, 103; and black political life, 116, 121, 139, 145, 153; and black artistic production, 138; and black formalism, 145, 146; reimagining of, 168, 173, 179, 225; and black power, 173; erosion of, 179, 195–96, 217, 222– 23; and black imprisonment, 215

  Black Cabinet, 112

  Black churches: and black formalism, 12, 151; as earliest black institutions, 20, 83; and “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” 23, 24, 36, 46–47, 83, 89–90, 104; and black radicalism, 60; schools compared to, 74; and larger black world, 85; centrality in black life, 87; and civil rights movement, 148

  Black citizenship: denial of full citizenship, 1, 5, 13, 18–19, 71, 83, 110–11, 156, 167; and Reconstruction era, 2, 5, 18, 112; and voting rights, 3, 4–5, 125, 156, 158–59; Marcus Garvey on, 28; Black National Anthem as anathema to goals of, 37–38; Walter Daykin on, 63; and philanthropists’ restrictions on education for blacks, 82; Robert Smalls advocating for, 82; Martin Luther King Jr. on, 110–11; aspirations for full citizenship, 112, 114–15, 143, 156; and democracy, 114, 115, 117

  Black civic life: and “Life Every Voice and Sing,” xiv, 18–19, 23, 37, 104; and voting rights, 3, 4–5, 125, 156, 158–59; in early twentieth century, 4; growth in organizations, 5–6, 9, 12, 36; in late nineteenth century, 8, 12; and larger black world, 85; in North, 89; and Negro History Week, 91, 96; whites’ unawareness of, 96

  Black consciousness, 166, 167, 175–76, 178, 181, 182, 183, 190

  Black Cross nurses, 32

  Black culture: and “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” xi, xiv, 15–16, 20, 58, 66, 70; and social class, xi, 65, 196, 214; and black formalism, 8, 9–12, 19, 70, 82, 139; and “high” and “low” culture, 10, 11, 12, 52; freedom represented in, 10, 45; Alain Locke on, 25–26; African retentions present in, 39; and New Negro Era, 42–43; and social music, 48–51; and folk culture, 54; and leftist politics, 61; Thomas Gilbert Standing on, 64; and Communist Party, 66; in curricula, 80; liturgical structure in, 87; research in, 92; and mass media, 113–14, 144; and civil rights movement, 142; and black power, 181–82; and Kwanzaa, 184, 185, 196; commodification of, 196; and spirituals, 211; and hip-hop, 212–13; and postblackness, 219–21

  Black diaspora: Johnson brothers as sons of, 1–2, 20; and “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” 20–21; and Marcus Garvey, 28; and NAACP, 36; and Negro Society for Historical Research, 92; and postwar settlement, 122; black Americans’ ties to, 142

  Black educational life: role of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” in, xiv, 72–73, 78–79, 80, 81–89, 93, 96, 97, 98–99, 100, 104, 109, 115, 149, 150, 180–81; and private schools, 3–4, 76, 88, 93–95, 99–100; growth in, 5; and Booker T. Washington, 7, 87, 89; and black formalism, 9–11, 12, 79, 81–82, 85, 90–91, 106, 108, 198–99; graduation programs, 16, 36, 80, 85, 87, 94, 108–9, 115, 215; and industrial education, 30, 63–64, 74, 75, 76, 81, 82, 88; and classical education, 30, 74, 79, 95; and pageants, 40, 86, 97, 184; and building of schools, 72, 74, 75, 77, 79, 100, 168; and funding for black schools, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 80, 81, 82–83, 86; and funding for high schools, 73, 74, 78, 79–80, 100; and expansion of educational access, 74, 76, 79–80, 85, 100; philanthropy for, 75, 76, 82, 88, 107; and black schools as community centers, 76–78, 87, 93; and Jeanes teachers, 77–78; and naming of black schools, 78, 82, 91; and curricula, 79, 80, 83, 88, 95–96, 98–99, 104; and black teachers, 80–81, 82, 84, 85–86, 88, 89, 90, 91–93, 98, 99–100, 104, 105, 179, 182; and county training schools, 81, 82, 107; and music education, 83; and guided group singing, 84; and larger black world, 84–85; and “School Improvement Day” programs, 86; and educational associations, 86–87; and development of black children, 86–87, 90, 105, 106; South compared to North, 88–90; and Negro History Week, 89, 91, 92, 93–98, 105; and out-of-school learning communities, 90–91, 98, 101–2; and laboratory schools, 95–96; and bookmobile services, 101; and school desegregation, 103–6, 14
6, 179, 180, 181, 190, 193–94; and cosmopolitanism of black school culture, 113; and World War II, 117; and SNYC, 124–25; and black power, 181–82; and busing crisis, 193–94. See also School segregation

  Black elites, 64–65, 179, 211

  Black English, 184

  Black entrepreneurship, 196–97

  Black formalism: and ritual practices, 7, 8, 9–10, 11, 12, 33, 35, 82, 110, 115, 223; emergence of, 7–8, 12; and “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” 7–10, 12–13, 15–16, 22, 35, 42, 47–48, 79, 81–82, 85, 90, 192, 199, 222, 225; as internal to black community, 8; and black culture, 8, 9–12, 19, 70, 82, 139; and vernacular form, 8, 10–11, 12, 22, 67, 212; and working-class blacks, 8, 52; and black educational life, 9–11, 12, 79, 81–82, 85, 90–91, 106, 108, 198–99; and Emancipation Day, 15–16; theatricality of, 67; and grooming, attire, and comportment, 82, 110; in North, 89; as foundation for freedom movement, 95, 145, 146; as public face of black community for mass media, 113; and black associational life, 145, 146; and civil rights movement, 151; and centennial of Emancipation Proclamation, 153; and black power, 176; and classical tradition, 177; commitment to, 195; loss of, 222

  Black free enterprise, 207

  Black History Month: expansion of Negro History Week, 176–77, 194, 244n20; and “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” 177, 211, 215, 222, 224–25; purpose of, 194–96; Chicago Bulls basketball game dedicated to, 203–4

  Black History Week. See Negro History Week programs

  Black identity: “Lift Every Voice and Sing” as signifier of, 26, 42, 46, 51, 55, 56, 72–73, 84, 90, 93, 95, 96, 98, 100, 109, 194, 200, 218, 223; and International Convention of the Negro Peoples of the World, 33; and symbolism of biblical Ethiopia, 40; and black political life, 63–64, 118; in visual arts, 70; and larger black world, 84–85, 118, 127, 128–29, 165, 200; W. E. B. DuBois on double consciousness of, 86–87, 121; and black educational life, 88; and Americana, 114, 117, 118, 122, 125, 127, 218; and World War II, 117–18; and postblackness, 219–21

  Black imprisonment, 215, 223

  Black internationalism, 29, 32–33, 60, 129, 133, 142, 200

  Black liberation, 176, 209

  Black Lives Matter, 224

  Black migrants, 26–27, 186, 189, 212–13, 214

  Black musicians: publishing of, 5; musical forms created by, 5, 16; and ASCAP anniversary celebration of 1939, 71; and civil rights movement, 147, 223; arrangements of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” 186–90, 214. See also specific musicians and types of music

 

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