When Coco Jones steps onto the field at Levi’s Stadium before Super Bowl LX, she’ll be continuing a ritual that has become as much a part of the game’s pageantry as the coin toss. Her performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing”—often called the Black National Anthem—is a moment that carries the weight of history into America’s biggest sporting event. For many, it’s a powerful point of pride; for others, it’s a complicated symbol in a nation still wrestling with its own story.
This journey from a modest school celebration to the Super Bowl stage spans over a century. It’s a story of community, protest, and ultimately, a hard-won acknowledgment. The song’s path mirrors the nation’s own turbulent relationship with race, memory, and who gets to define American patriotism.
The Humble Origins of a Powerful Hymn
The story begins not on a field, but in a classroom. “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was first performed on February 12, 1900, in Jacksonville, Florida. It was created by two brothers: the poet James Weldon Johnson wrote the words as a poem, and his brother, composer J. Rosamond Johnson, set it to music. They prepared it for a celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday at the segregated Stanton School, where James was the principal.
On that day, 500 Black schoolchildren stood and sang it publicly for the very first time. There were no television cameras, no celebrities. It was a local event, but the resonance was immediate. The lyrics spoke directly to a shared experience of struggle, faith, and perseverance. Consequently, the song began to spread organically through Black churches, schools, and NAACP gatherings, becoming an unofficial anthem of community and resilience long before it received its formal title.
The NFL’s Pivot and the Song’s Super Bowl Debut
For most of its history, the NFL had no formal connection to the hymn. The league’s incorporation of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is inextricably linked to its own controversy surrounding player protests. After Colin Kaepernick began kneeling during the national anthem in 2016 to protest police brutality, the league found itself in a fierce, public debate about race, patriotism, and free speech.
The pivotal shift came in 2020, following the national reckoning after the murder of George Floyd. In response to widespread criticism and under pressure from players, the NFL announced it would begin featuring “Lift Every Voice and Sing” during its season openers and major events like the Super Bowl. The league framed it as an act of unity and “healing.” Essentially, after years of battling players who protested during The Star-Spangled Banner, the institution chose to elevate a song that narrates the very history those protests were highlighting.
Carrying the Weight of History in a Modern Moment
Today, the performance is a fixed part of the Super Bowl’s pre-game ceremony, yet it remains a profoundly complex moment. For Black viewers, it can be a point of quiet pride or uncomfortable scrutiny in mixed company. The song’s lyrics—“Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod”—are a direct reference to the brutal history of slavery and Jim Crow, making its performance on a primarily commercial, national stage uniquely potent.
Ultimately, the song’s presence at the Super Bowl asks the country to hold two ideas at once: celebration and sober history. It is both a tribute to Black cultural endurance and a reminder of the unfinished work of equality. As Coco Jones prepares to sing, she channels the voices of those 500 children in Jacksonville and millions since. The performance is a testament to the song’s enduring power, proving that an anthem born from hope can still command a nation’s attention, demanding to be heard on its own solemn and celebratory terms.
