Question: who wrote the black national anthem lift every voice
Answer: `` Lift Every Voice and Sing '' -- often referred to as the `` Black / African - American National Anthem '' -- is a song written as a poem by James Weldon Johnson ( 1871 -- 1938 ) in 1900 and set to music by his brother John Rosamond Johnson ( 1873 -- 1954 ) in 1905 .