NEW ORLEANS – The James Weldon Johnson Foundation, headquartered in Great Barrington, and the NFL will honor and celebrate the 125th anniversary of the hymn, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” in a special Super Bowl LIX pregame ceremony. The pregame ceremony, which will take place at Caesar’s Superdome in New Orleans on Sunday, February 9, 2025, and air live on FOX, will celebrate the unwavering resilience of the New Orleans community.
James Wheldon Johnson was a visionary thinker and Renaissance man whose achievements as an author, lyricist, poet, diplomat, attorney, educator, and civil rights leader left an indelible mark on American history and culture. He is best known as the lyricist of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” a hymn set to music by his brother, J. Rosamond Johnson.
Johnson wrote some of his most enduring works in a writing cabin on his property called Five Acres in Great Barrington. The Foundation is in the process of preserving both the cabin and the land around it.
“Lift Every Voice and Sing,” was first performed by 500 schoolchildren in Jacksonville, Florida on February 12, 1900, in celebration of President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. Rufus Jones, president of the James Weldon Johnson Foundation, brought the idea to the NFL of celebrating the 125th anniversary of the first public performance of the hymn with a large children’s choir in New Orleans to perform the song pregame.
Dr. Jeffery Redding led select singers from the Orlando Choral Society and UCF in a performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” for a performance last week, on February 2, 2025, during a 2025 NFL Pro Bowl Games rehearsal . To hear this rehearsal performance, click here.
The pre-game ceremony will bring the melody and harmonies of 125 schoolchildren from New Orleans, featuring The Greater New Orleans High School Choral Collective, under the direction of Conductor Dr. Jeffery Redding, a 2019 GRAMMY Music Educator Award recipient
New Orleans native Ledisi will perform a powerful solo of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” accompanied by a 125-member choir of high school vocalists from across the Greater New Orleans area. The choir unites students from KIPP New Orleans Schools (John F. Kennedyand Frederick A. Douglass), InspireNOLA Schools (Eleanor McMain, Edna Karr, and McDonogh 35), Collegiate Academies (G.W. Carver and Livingston), L.B. Landry High School, Warren Easton High School, New Orleans Charter Science and Mathematics High School, L.W. Higgins High School, and St. Mary’s Academy.
Deaf and hard of hearing people can watch a stream of the pregame performance with ASL interpretation here. Learn more about the James Weldon Johnson Foundation here.
