Lift Every Voice and Sing | Searching for Augusta Savage

Explore the intersection of art, history, and representation through these videos from Searching for Augusta Savage that tell the story of the artist’s 16-foot sculpture exhibited at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Savage was the only African American sculptor commissioned to create an exhibit for the fair in New York. The reception and fate of her sculpture, Lift Every Voice and Sing, illuminate important patterns in how art is preserved and history is remembered. Through discussion questions and teaching tips, students will analyze the sculpture, draw connections between it and the song from which it takes its name, and consider the implications of art lost by Black female artists of the time.

NOTE: This resource contains language at [0:15-0:17 and 2:01-2:03 of Erasure; and 0:43-0:45 of Art, History and Representation] in the video gallery, and in the Student Activity, that is either representative of the time in which it was expressed or has evolved beyond its original use and is considered by modern standards of taste to be outdated.