Existing comment:
A Song for America:
"The words of 'The Star-Spangled Banner' are lovely; they are an inspiration from start to finish... God bless Francis Scott Key."
-- Ella Hauk Holloway, President of the National Society US Daughters of 1812, 1932. Mrs. Holloway orchestrated the campaign to make "The Star-Spangled Banner" the official National Anthem
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is a potent symbol that has long provoked intense debate. Although widely regarded as a national song or the national air after 1814, it took 117 years to become the official National Anthem.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, "The Star-Spangled Banner" was adopted as a rally cry of the Union. By the 1890s, patriotic organizations began to promote public singing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and practice of standing during its playing. Form 1910, various attempts to get the song officially recognized as the National Anthem also began. Opposition was just as passionate in favor of other contenders, including "My Country 'Tis Of Thee," "America the Beautiful," and "Hail Columbia." After World War I, pacifists argued that Key's lyrics were too warlike and, in the words of opponent Augusta E. Stetson, "born of intense hatred of Great Britain and wedded to a bar-room ballad composed by a foreigner."
However, the song was already the official choice for military ceremonies, and the weight of its popular appeal proved overwhelming. On march 3, 1931, President Hoover signed a bill making "The Star-Spangled Banner" America's official National Anthem. Nevertheless, many people continue to question the song's meanings and ask how and for whom America is the "land of the free."
"It says 'The land of the free and the home of the brave' and this is not the land of the free... I'm not going to sing it any more."
-- Sylvia Woods, a 10-year-old African American girl in 1919, explaining to her school principal why she was refusing to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" |