Just like Reiss and Hughes, James Weldon Johnson clearly develops the theme that the past can bring hope and strength in his poem "Lift Every Voice and Sing." This poem is about remembering the past while pursuing liberty. Each of the stanzas is structured to acknowledge both the difficulty of the past and the triumph. The speaker encourages everyone to "sing a song full of faith” that comes from the "dark past" (7). The poem also uses figurative language to describe how the speakers have arrived at "the place for which our fathers sighed" (16). He ends the song by asking his listeners to remain "true to our native land" (33) and the strength that comes from remembering the past. This poem strongly shows the theme that the past can bring hope and strength. 1​