Lift Every Voice and Sing (sculpture) facts for kids

Lift Every Voice and Sing at the New York World's Fair

Lift Every Voice and Sing, also known as The Harp, was a large sculpture made of plaster. It was created by the amazing African-American artist Augusta Savage. The sculpture was made for the 1939 New York World's Fair. It was shown in the courtyard of the Pavilion of Contemporary Art during the fair. The fair took place at Flushing Meadow. Sadly, the sculpture was destroyed after the fair ended in 1940.

About Augusta Savage

Augusta Fells was born in 1892 in Green Cove Springs, Florida. This town is about 40 miles south of Jacksonville, Florida. She married John T. Moore in 1907 when she was 15. Her only child, a daughter named Irene, was born the next year. After Moore's death, she married James Savage in 1915. She divorced him in 1920 but kept his last name.

Becoming an Artist

Augusta moved to New York in 1921 to study art. She first tried to study at the American School of Sculpture. But she could not afford the fees there. Instead, she studied at Cooper Union. She finished a four-year degree in just three years. This showed how talented she was. In 1923, she married Robert Lincoln Poston. He sadly died the next year.

Also in 1923, Savage won a scholarship to study art in France. This was at Fontainebleau, near Paris. But the scholarship was taken away because she was African-American. Some white American students did not want to share rooms with her. W. E. B. Du Bois, a famous civil rights leader, wrote letters to support her. Many newspapers reported this unfair decision.

One committee member, sculptor Hermon A. MacNeil, disagreed with the choice. He offered Savage a chance to study with him instead. She kept working in the US. Later, she raised enough money to study in France. She attended the Académie de la Grande Chaumière starting in 1929. She showed her art in important exhibitions there.

Returning to New York

Augusta Savage came back to the US in 1932. She opened the Savage Studio of Arts and Crafts in New York City. She received money from the Carnegie Foundation for this. In 1934, she made history. She was the first African-American woman elected to the National Association of Women Artists. In 1937, she became the first director of the Harlem Community Art Center.

Also in 1937, she received a special request. She was asked to create a sculpture for the 1939 World's Fair. She was the only African-American woman chosen for this. One African-American man, William Grant Still, also got a commission. Savage was one of 14 women to win a silver medal. This was for her art contribution to the fair.

Savage took time off from her job to work on the sculpture. When she returned, her job had been given to someone else. This was Gwendolyn B. Bennett. Savage showed her art at the American Negro Exposition in 1940. She also opened two art galleries, but they did not succeed. Her sculpture for the World's Fair was her last big art project. She moved to Saugerties, New York in 1945. There, she became an art teacher and farmer. She passed away in New York City in 1962.

About the Sculpture

Augusta Savage was asked to create a sculpture. It needed to represent African-American music for the 1939 World's Fair. The sculpture was inspired by a famous poem. It was called "Lift Every Voice and Sing". James Weldon Johnson wrote the poem in 1900. His brother, J. Rosamond Johnson, added music to it in 1905. It became known as the "Negro national anthem." A picture of Savage's early sketch appeared on the cover of The Crisis magazine. This was the magazine for the NAACP.

What it Looked Like

The finished sculpture was 16 ft (4.9 m) tall. It looked like a very large harp. The strings of the harp were made of twelve black singers. They stood in long robes and got smaller in size. A long arm and hand supported them. This arm represented the arm of God. It was like the sounding board of the instrument. This might have hinted at the traditional Spiritual song "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands". In front of the harp, a bare-chested black man knelt. He held sheet music for the song. The plaster was made to look dark, like basalt rock.

Savage named her sculpture Lift Every Voice and Sing. She named it after the poem and hymn. But the fair's organizers renamed it The Harp. The sculpture was shown outside the Pavilion of Contemporary Art. It became very popular at the fair. Many postcards and 11 in (28 cm) metal copies were sold as souvenirs.

There was no money to move and store the plaster sculpture. There was also no money to make a large bronze copy. So, the sculpture was destroyed. It was taken down with other temporary artworks. This happened when the fair closed in 1940.

Copies of the Sculpture

Small metal copies of The Harp are in several museums. You can find them at the Schomburg Center in Harlem. Another copy is at the Columbus Museum in Georgia. A gold-plated copy was sold for US$9,375 in 2018. A silver copy sold for $21,250 in 2019.

In 2017, Aviva Kempner suggested something exciting. She wrote in the New York Times that a full-size copy should be built. She thought it should be placed in front of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. In 2021, it was announced that a copy of the statue will be installed. It will be in the new Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing Park. This park will be at 120 Lee Street in Jacksonville, Florida. This is where James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson were born. It is also about 40 mi (64 km) north of Augusta Savage's birthplace.

A photo of a copy of the sculpture was chosen for a book cover in 2021. The book was called Women's International Thought: Towards a New Canon.