What's Your American Anthem?

The bugle call of "Taps." The swell of voices spontaneously joining to sing "We Shall Overcome." The urgency of "Fight The Power." Anthems are songs that tap into the collective emotions that listeners and performers have around an issue, whether it's joyful pride in one's country or rage over injustice.

The stories behind these musical manifestos — why they are written and how they are embraced — can reveal much about the cultural pulse of the societies that create, share and celebrate them. Beginning July 4, NPR will zero in on 50 different anthems across a range of themes: patriotic, civil rights, anti-war, female empowerment, sports, mental health and more, in a series we're calling American Anthem.

Our working definition is "a rousing or uplifting song identified with a particular group, body, or cause," though each of our picks — selected by NPR staffers with help from a panel of music scholars and artists — might fill those criteria in a different way. Whether a song originated in America is less important than the role it plays in American culture (so expect to see a few from beyond our borders). From "Battle Hymn of the Republic" to "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," "Dixie" to "Born This Way," we want you to think about what makes an anthem and for whom these compositions can speak.

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