This poem was written in 1900 for the celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday at a segregated black school, and in particular to introduce Booker T. Washington–at the time the most recognized black person in the country.

Almost immediately, the audience recognized its power, and James' brother John set it to music. That version began to circulate taped in the back covers of hymnals in black churches, and it was adopted as “the Negro National Anthem” by the NAACP in 1919.

The combination of pain, hope, faith, and a sense of steady progress, enhanced even more by the steady march of the musical setting, has made this part of the standard hymnody of many churches, both black and white.