Some of us have always felt in the pit of our stomach that Francis Scott Key’s “The Star-Spangled Banner” is a tad too, well, American-y. Fortunately, we’ve always had “Lift Every Voice and Sing” — known colloquially as the “Black National Anthem” — as a fallback to acknowledge love for a home that hasn’t historically loved us in return.

Entire books have been written about the history of the Black National Anthem. But as we prepare for Grammy Award-winner Andra Day to bring the house down by performing “Lift Every Voice” alongside country singer Reba McEntire performing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Super Bowl LVIII on Feb 11, here’s a bit of background on our song.

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