May We Forever Stand: A History of the Black National Anthem by Imani Perry (review)

136 The Michigan Historical Review Imani Perry. May We Forever Stand: A History of the Black National Anthem. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2018. Pp. 279. Illustrations. Index. Notes. Cloth: $26.00. The National Anthem has received significant attention recently as a debate has raged over how, when, and where performances of patriotism and political protest are appropriate. With her timely book on the Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” Imani Perry details one aspect of the long and complicated history that African Americans have had with America. May We Forever Stand traces the history of this song and how the concept of black formalism came to shape its usage. Perry defines this formalism as “embedded norms, codes of conduct, and routine, dignified ways of doing and being” (p. 7). After a brief overview of the lives of the song’s creators, lyricist James Weldon Johnson and composer John Rosamond Johnson, Perry explores how the song and black formalism grew in tandem. The early chapters of the book follow James in particular as the anthem rose in popularity and usage. Perry, however, makes it clear that her work is not about the lives of the creators of the song, but about the life of the anthem itself. After a brief discussion of the birth of black formalism, Perry moves on to use “Lift Every Voice and Sing” as a lens to explore black art and activism, black schools and education, World War II, and the civil rights movement, before finishing with the decline of black formalism as a new, supposedly post-racial, America came into being. Perry’s most substantial intervention with this work is in her redefinition of black formalism, which builds on the work of Hortense Spiller, among others. Formalism, she argues, was not solely the realm of black elites and was deeply entrenched within black communities. “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was a central aspect of this formalized community life, acting as a soundtrack for events and institutions that were themselves central to black life. As Perry puts it, “[t]he song encapsulated the complex fabric of black life, and it grew to be part of the complex fabric of black life” (p. 22). May We Forever Stand is excellently researched and sourced. Through the use of materials such as graduation programs, op-eds, novels, plays, memoirs, political protests, school curricula, and the records of civic and professional organizations, Perry covers substantial ground and uncovers a multitude of local examples of the usage of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” that support her argument about the centrality of the song to black life throughout the bulk of the twentieth century. The author ends with a call for a return to a more active association life. Despite spending most of the book arguing that “blackness” was wide-ranging and varied, she is somewhat dismissive of the Book Reviews 137 pundit Touré for attempting to define twenty-first-century blackness in a more encompassing manner. She calls Paul Beatty’s description of postblackness better without really telling why. More here would have helped tie her argument together. This is, however, a very minor issue with an otherwise outstanding text. André Thompson Indiana University Bloomington Phil Porter. The Soldiers of Fort Mackinac: An Illustrated History. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2018. Pp. 196. Cloth: $39.95 Fort Mackinac served as an important British and American military base through numerous wars and over many decades, and its preserved ramparts continue to attract thousands of visitors every year. The buildings remind visitors of the strategic value of the position as one of the chokepoints controlling access through the Great Lakes. While an important visual representation of the post’s historic contribution to frontier development in North America, the fort itself tells only part of its story. In The Soldiers of Fort Mackinac, Phil Porter, director of the Mackinac State Historic Parks, provides faces to some of the thousands of soldiers who served at the post during the nineteenth century, and in the process reveals how the fort was both a home and place where war could arrive at any time. Starting with the establishment of the fort by...