It’s been thirty years since Whitney Houston performed the national anthem at the Super Bowl in 1991 and yet her performance — the voice, attitude, the subtle message she conveyed with it — still echoes in the heads of so many people all these years later. While “The Star-Spangled Banner” is supposed to be an ode and declaration of freedom, history tells us that it was not created to encompass the same ideal for Black Americans. For many, the song is impossible to separate from the racial injustice that pervades the United States. (That’s one reason why “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is considered by many as the Black national anthem.) But in 1991, Houston set out to reclaim the national anthem for Black Americans with a powerful performance that still is just as powerful today.