+
Internet

Sheryl Lee Ralph sang the Black national anthem on the 123rd anniversary of the song's debut

History was made in more ways than one at the Super Bowl.

Sheryl Lee Ralph; Super Bowl; NFL; history; Black National Anthem

Sheryl Lee Ralph sang the Black national anthem on its 123rd anniversary.

By now most people have heard that the Black national anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing," was performed at the Super Bowl by actress Sheryl Lee Ralph. Of course, there has been some discourse online about the song being sung before the national anthem or even being sung at all. But let's focus on the history of the moment, because oh, history was made.

History was made all over the Super Bowl. It was the first time two Black quarterbacks faced off on the NFL's biggest stage. It was the first time two brothers played against each other in the championship. (Hello, Kelce bros and their poor mom torn between two children.) It was also the first time that the Black national anthem was sung at the Super Bowl, but not just that. February 12, the day of the game, was the 123rd anniversary of "Lift Every Voice and Sing" being premiered in public.

Interestingly enough, that song, which has been coined the Black national anthem and holds extreme significance to the Black community, is nearly as old as the actual national anthem that everyone learns.


While the national anthem was written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key, it wasn't until 1931 that it was adopted as the U.S. national anthem by Congress. But the Black national anthem, written by NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson and his brother John Rosamond Johnson in 1900, was sung publicly by 500 school children the same year to celebrate Abraham Lincoln's birthday. It was first written as a poem by James, then his brother John composed music to it. Since its first public singing, it's been sung in Black households, churches and sororities.

The song was sung and continues to be sung as a sign of hope, togetherness and strength to face and overcome adversity. While the U.S. National Anthem leaves out the lesser-known verses that would give people pause, there's nothing wrong with preferring it. But the Black national anthem is a beautiful reminder that together we can get through anything, and there's nothing wrong with celebrating the history of it being sung at the Super Bowl.

Watch Sheryl Lee Ralph sing it below:

Our home, from space.

Sixty-one years ago, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to make it into space and probably the first to experience what scientists now call the "overview effect." This change occurs when people see the world from far above and notice that it’s a place where “borders are invisible, where racial, religious and economic strife are nowhere to be seen.”

The overview effect makes man’s squabbles with one another seem incredibly petty and presents the planet as it truly is, one interconnected organism.

Keep ReadingShow less
@katherout/TikTok

Just another unsolved mystery

Who doesn’t like a good mystery?

A video creator known as @katherout certainly does. At the gym Kath frequents, there’s a whiteboard with a revolving prompt with simple questions like “What are you listening to?” or “What city were you born in?” Gym goers then write their responses anonymously on the board.

Kath recently became enthralled—and tickled—by a person who somehow manage to write the word “monke” (as in the word describing a group of monkeys, apparently) on every single one of their answers.

Keep ReadingShow less
@allbelongco/TikTok

How bizarre, how bizarre.

It should go without saying that it’s not cool to steal from your Airbnb. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t still happen.

However, when one Airbnb host recently discovered a guest had—for some strange reason—stolen one of her paintings, then replaced it with a completely different painting, she decided to make the best out of a very uncool situation by sharing the story on TikTok.

As a result, viewers got to witness an continuously unraveling, truly bizarre modern-day art heist.

Okay, let’s get into it.

Keep ReadingShow less

11-year-old girl is the youngest opera singer in the world.

The majority of 11-year-olds are perfectly content balancing the pre-teen life with Barbie dolls and tinted lipgloss. But one pre-teen is busy breaking records. Victory Brinker is an 11-year-old opera prodigy who was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's youngest opera singer in 2019 when she was almost 8 years old.

If you like opera—or even if you don't—hearing her vocal range of three octaves and voice control is impressive. When it comes to singing, control of your breath, pitch and tone can be difficult, especially when you're without years of classical training. Victory's skill is so impressive that when she appeared on America's Got Talent last year, she was given the "golden buzzer," which sends you straight to the finalist round in Hollywood.

Keep ReadingShow less

Brianna Greenfield makes nachos for her husband.

A viral video showing a woman preparing nachos for her "picky" spouse after he refused to eat the salmon dinner she cooked has sparked a contentious debate on TikTok. The video was shared on April 26 by Brianna Greenfield (@themamabrianna on TikTok) and has since earned over 2.5 million views.

Brianna is a mother of two who lives in Iowa.

The video starts with Brianna grating a massive hunk of cheese with a caption that reads: “My husband didn’t eat the dinner that I made…So let’s make him some nachos.”

“If I don’t feed him, he literally won’t eat,” she wrote. “This used to irritate me. Now I just blame his mother for never making him try salmon,” Greenfield wrote. The video features Meghan Trainor’s single “Mother” playing in the background.

Keep ReadingShow less
@miztermiller/TikTok

Now THAT'S a deal.

Let's be real—buying secondhand allows us to save a few bucks, which is great. But the real thrill is the possibility of snagging that ultra-rare, one-of-a-kind item that’s worth a bajillion times more than we originally paid for it. Yes, that kind of shopping is a lottery unto itself. But man, what a jackpot, should you win.

And of course, it’s not a totally far-fetched fantasy. Costly things get thrown out or donated all the time, ready to be procured at the nearby thrift store, garage sale…

…or, in this case, Facebook Marketplace.

Keep ReadingShow less