Event Information

 Thursday, February 13, 2020
 12:30 PM–1:45 PM
 RBD Library (Ground Floor Auditorium)
 Free and open to the public.

Timothy Askew, Ph.D. Professor of English at Clark Atlanta University

Title: "The historical and cultural significance of the famous song, 'Lift Every Voice and Sing' ''

Summary: "Lift Every Voice and Sing," written by James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson, has enjoyed enormous popularity throughout the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. African American educational, political, and cultural leaders have contributed to the reception of this song. Askew's lecture on "Lift Every Voice and Sing" explores the issue of how the song offers a window in understanding the political and social consciousness of African Americans in each decade of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries--historically and culturally. It also addresses the on-going debate, historically and in contemporary America, about whether or not there should be a Black National Anthem.

Free and open to students, faculty, and the public.