“Alexa, play that song again.”
Williams, a retired Howard University professor, calls it his “freedom song.”
“As a black American, it makes me feel powerful and recognized,” Williams said. “I don’t feel recognized by our national anthem.”
Williams’s passion has driven his campaign to get the National Basketball Association and schools throughout the country to play “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” at games during Black History Month.
Responding to a request from Williams, the Prince George’s County school board recently asked all schools to incorporate the song into at least one schoolwide activity during Black History Month.
“Not every family is exposed to the ‘Black National Anthem,’ so playing it at public events could spark an idea, or encourage students to educate themselves,” said Sonya Williams (District 9), a county school board member who is not related to Eugene Williams Sr. “If one student pays attention and wants to learn more about the song, we’ve done our job.”
Activists and entertainers continue to use the song as a rallying cry for the civil rights movement. The Rev. Joseph Lowery, who co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., quoted part of the song during his benediction at President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration. In April, Beyoncé sang lines from the hymn to a crowd of thousands during her performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California.
Since late 2017, Williams has followed a strict morning routine. After breakfast, he pulls out a notebook and calls representatives from some of the NBA’s 30 franchises to make his request. He takes notes and confers with his wife, Mary Johnson.
Some teams, including the Golden State Warriors, Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards, have honored his request, playing “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” at games during Black History Month in the 2018 and 2019 seasons.
The teams’ responsiveness last year inspired Williams to expand his plea to school systems, colleges and universities.
In addition to Prince George’s County, he contacted administrators from Fairfax County Public Schools and Charles County Public Schools. He is waiting for a response from the Fairfax school system.
Kimberly A. Hill, superintendent of the Charles County school system, considered Williams’s request but did not include the song in Black History Month activities, according to school system spokeswoman Katherine O’Malley-Simpson.
Colleges and universities in the Washington region have agreed to play “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” at their basketball games. George Washington University and Georgetown University have played the song at men’s basketball games.
AcaBellas n’ Fellas, a student a cappella group at American University, performed “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” in addition to the national anthem at a women’s basketball game Feb. 16. University officials reached out to the group with Williams’s request.
Indira Mohabeer, leader of AcaBellas n’ Fellas, said black students in the group could recall hearing parts of the song at church or from their parents. “It’s ingrained in black American culture,” she said. “It was always there.”
Mohabeer, 20, a junior, said performing “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” reminded her of the song’s importance as a symbol of “black struggles and upbringing.” But its message extends beyond Black History Month, she said.
“It also represents a universal struggle that everyone faces; it asks everyone to reflect on the past and appreciate where we are now,” Mohabeer said.
Through his initiative, Williams said he hopes the song will become a standard component of schools’ pregame rituals, much like the national anthem.
“I want to help black students and adults learn about themselves and where they came from,” he said. “But learning more about African American history would benefit people of all races.”