Nearly 60,000 fans packed the Georgia Dome this weekend to hear the eight bands taking part in the 9th annual Honda Battle of the Bands.
Nearly 60,000 fans packed the Georgia Dome this weekend to hear the eight bands taking part in the 9th annual Honda Battle of the Bands.
“Lift Every Voice and Sing” is an uplifting spiritual, one that’s often heard in churches and popularly recognized as the black national anthem. Timothy Askew grew up with its rhythms, but now the song holds a contentious place in his mind.
“I love the song,” said Askew, an associate professor of English at Clark Atlanta University, a historically black college. “But it’s not the song that is the problem. It’s the label of the song as a ‘black national anthem’ that creates a lot of confusion and tension.”