The Bladensburg fight was a quick, embarrassing defeat for American troops - something Key knew because he’d witnessed it up close as a volunteer aide to a U.S. 24, 1814, the Colonial Marines had participated in the Battle of Bladensburg outside Washington, D.C. O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.īy the time Key wrote these words, the British military included a regiment of former slaves called the Colonial Marines, whom the British had encouraged to escape and then trained and armed. No refuge could save the hireling and slaveįrom the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,Īnd the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave As The Intercept recently noted, Key’s little-known third stanza includes these lines: 14, 1814, after witnessing the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore during the (poorly named) War of 1812. Photo: Edward Percy Moran/Library of Congressįrancis Scott Key wrote the poem that became the song’s lyrics on Sept. It took 117 years from the time “The Star-Spangled Banner” was written in 1814 until it was legally enshrined as the American national anthem in 1931.Ī painting titled “By Dawn’s Early Light” depicts Francis Scott Key standing on a boat with his arm outstretched toward the United States flag flying over Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland. Part of that means facing the reality that everything about “The Star-Spangled Banner” - its lyrics, its author, and the path it took to becoming the national anthem - is inextricably bound up with America’s gruesome history of racism. has barely begun dragging the unflattering aspects of its past out into the light.
It’s the clearest demonstration possible that even in 2016, the U.S.
The very fact this controversy was surprising may be the most significant thing about it. Much of the debate generated by Kaepernick has been on subjects directly connected to his actions: police brutality, free speech, and the rights and obligations of professional athletes.īut it’s also sparked nationwide discussion of something more tangential that no one saw coming - the meaning and history of “The Star-Spangled Banner” itself, including whether it should be rewritten or replaced entirely. San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick kneels during the national anthem before the team’s preseason game against the San Diego Chargers on Sept.
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