"All Hail, Liberia, Hail!" is the
national anthem
A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and Europea ...
of
Liberia. The lyrics were written by
Daniel Bashiel Warner (1815–1880), who later became the third
president of Liberia, and the music was composed by
Olmstead Luca
Olmstead Luca (18261869) was a Liberian pianist and composer. He composed the music for the Liberian national anthem, "All Hail, Liberia, Hail!". He came from a mixed-race family that had immigrated to Liberia from the southern United States
...
(1826–1869). It became the official national anthem upon Liberia's independence in 1847.
History
1974 proposed change to lyrics
On 22 July 1974, the
Legislature of Liberia passed an act giving authorization to the president to establish a commission to give consideration to possible changes to a number of national symbols, including "All Hail, Liberia, Hail!" and the
flag. President
William Tolbert
William Richard Tolbert Jr. (13 May 1913 – 12 April 1980) was a Liberian politician who served as the 20th president of Liberia from 1971 until 1980.
Tolbert was an Americo-Liberian and trained as a civil servant before entering the House of ...
appointed 51 members to the Commission on National Unity. The commission was headed by McKinley Alfred Deshield Sr., and was also called the Deshield Commission. The commission sought to reexamine the symbols and remove divisive aspects of them. The commission submitted their report on 24 January 1978. The report recommended changing the word "benighted" in the anthem to the word "undaunted". The proposed change to the anthem was never made.
Lyrics
Notes
References
External links
Liberian national anthem sang by a Liberian choir in a Baptist Church.archive link
African anthems
Liberian music
National symbols of Liberia
National anthem compositions in B-flat major
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