General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsStar-Spangled Bigotry: The Hidden Racist History of the National Anthem
http://www.theroot.com/articles/history/2016/07/star-spangled-bigotry-the-hidden-racist-history-of-the-national-anthem/To understand the full Star-Spangled Banner story, you have to understand the author. Key was an aristocrat and city prosecutor in Washington, D.C. He was, like most enlightened men at the time, not against slavery; he just thought that since blacks were mentally inferior, masters should treat them with more Christian kindness. He supported sending free blacks (not slaves) back to Africa and, with a few exceptions, was about as pro-slavery, anti-black and anti-abolitionist as you could get at the time.
A few weeks later, in September of 1815, far from being a captive, Key was on a British boat begging for the release of one of his friends, a doctor named William Beanes. Key was on the boat waiting to see if the British would release his friend when he observed the bloody battle of Fort McHenry in Baltimore on Sept. 13, 1815. America lost the battle but managed to inflict heavy casualties on the British in the process. This inspired Key to write The Star-Spangled Banner right then and there, but no one remembers that he wrote a full third stanza decrying the former slaves who were now working for the British army:
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battles confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washd out their foul footsteps pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
Oer the land of the free and the home of the brave.
In other words, Key was saying that the blood of all the former slaves and hirelings on the battlefield will wash away the pollution of the British invaders. With Key still bitter that some black soldiers got the best of him a few weeks earlier, The Star-Spangled Banner is as much a patriotic song as it is a diss track to black people who had the audacity to fight for their freedom. Perhaps thats why it took almost 100 years for the song to become the national anthem.
Ouch. Maryland recently rediscovered that the later verses of its state song "Maryland, My Maryland" are pro-Confederate. But this? Also at issue: Not far from Fort McHenry is the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
Wednesdays
(17,380 posts)The events were in 1814, not 1815.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)The former MD gov and presidential candidate is a noted War of 1812 buff.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)by their very existence severely call into question whether this should be our national anthem.
To tell the truth, though, I'd welcome any excuse to get rid of a very difficult piece that few are able to sing without struggle and even fewer can sing handsomely without cracks and high-pitch screeches, very much including me. And just maybe this reason could accomplish that. The song is part of our history and need not disappear, the lines we have always sung can still be sung, but not as our national anthem.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)Hortensis
(58,785 posts)made her being part of the deliberately uneducated, hostility-driven anti-Hillary crowd no surprise? I avoid reading about entertainers, so this nasty smallness in a person who's lived a big life was, though.
ghostsinthemachine
(3,569 posts)I was looking for this. And it does bring into question. The war glorification is enough....
muntrv
(14,505 posts)Didn't know about the racist implications at that time.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)all verses of this historic song should be taught. Even these days, with our internet information availability, how many know?
Jeffersons Ghost
(15,235 posts)pfitz59
(10,381 posts)The British retreated
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)The relevance to the OP's sentiment being...?
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)an old English drinking song called "To Anacreon In Heaven".
Maeve
(42,282 posts)Ther term 'hirelings and slaves' also referred to mercenaries and forced soldiers, those who were 'impressed' into service as opposed to recruits. The disdain for them came from the fact that they were paid (mercenaries) or forced ('slaves') as opposed to free men choosing to fight for a cause. The British used both (part of the cause of the war was US citizens being pulled off ships and impressed into the Royal Navy). You can also find the term used in Irish national writings (where there was no black slavery) of the time period.
I am not denying that there may well have been a racist aspect to Key's lyrics, but the other usage may somewhat explain why it has not been widely noted. Also, it's a lousy verse.