In 1939, Augusta Savage was commissioned to create a sculpture for the New York World's Fair. Titled The Harp, the work was strongly influenced by James Weldon Johnson's 1900 song, "Lift Every Voice and Sing." The sculpture depicted a group of twelve stylized black singers in graduated heights that symbolized the strings of the harp. The sounding board was formed by the hand and arm of God, and a kneeling man holding music represented the foot pedal. No funds were available to cast The Harp permanently in bronze, nor were there any facilities to store the plaster version fabricated for the Fair. After the fair closed it was demolished.