The Reverend Joseph Lowery started his benediction at the Obama inauguration reciting the last stanza of the Black National Anthem coined by Jacksonville, FL natives James Weldon Johnson and his brother John R. Johnson in 1899.
From the National Black Anthem
God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
Thou Who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou Who hast by Thy might, led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee.
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee.
Shadowed beneath Thy hand, may we forever stand,
True to our God, true to our native land.
Click here to hear the entire benediction.
While Lowery was being faithful to our heritage, Aretha held tight to her love of Detroit by propelling Detroit milliner Luke Song to international prominence.
After a national search, editors Barbara Nevergold and 
Peggy Brooks-Brtram chose the works of only 100 women for the just released book "Go, Tell Michelle: African American Women Write the New First Lady" (SUNY Press, $17.95).
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