American national anthem lyrics racist meaning

While Key was composing the line 'O'er the land of the free,' it is likely that black slaves were trying to reach British ships in Baltimore Harbor.

Africans in America, he said, were: вЂњa distinct and inferior race of people, which all experience proves to be the greatest evil that afflicts a community.вЂќДЄ few weeks after British troops in the War of 1812 stunned and demoralized America by attacking Washington and setting the Capitol building and the White House ablaze on Augthe British turned their attention to the vital seaport of Baltimore. When he wrote the poem that would, in 1931, become the national anthem and proclaim our nation вЂњthe land of the free,вЂќ like Jefferson, Key not only profited from slaves, he harbored racist conceptions of American citizenship and human potential. In 1814, Key was a slaveholding lawyer from an old Maryland plantation family, who thanks to a system of human bondage had grown rich and powerful. The seeming contradictions between JeffersonвЂ™s slaveholding history, deeply racist personal views, his support of the institution in his political life, and his assertion of human rights in the Declaration, in many ways parallelВ Key's story. вЂњAll Men are Created EqualвЂќ and вЂњThe Land of the FreeвЂќ-both those mottoes sprang from the pens of men with quite narrow views of equality and freedom. However, we fail to do the same with our national anthemвЂ™s composer Francis Scott Key. We create.вЂќДЇrancis Scott Key, a slaveholding lawyer from an old Maryland plantation family, wrote the song that would in 1931 become the national anthem and proclaim our nation вЂњthe land of the free.вЂќ Your debts are paid cuz you donвЂ™t pay for labor It comes up all the time, as in the smash Broadway hit HamiltonВ when Lin-Manuel MirandaвЂ™s Alexander Hamilton takes Jefferson down a peg or two:ДЄ civics lesson from a slaver. We note the paradox underlying JeffersonвЂ™s authorship of the Declaration. When we consider the legacy of the Declaration and its author, Thomas Jefferson, we confront and debate this compelling paradox-that the man who trumpeted the вЂњself-evidentвЂќ truth that вЂњall men are created equalвЂќ owned some 175 slaves. It is instructive and moving to hear the entire text in all its beautiful eloquence and with all the inherent irony of its rhetoric of freedom and equality contrasting with the realities of slavery and the treachery practiced on the вЂњmerciless Indian savages.вЂќ Something about paying attention solely to spoken words for a few minutesВ provokes deep discussion. We take a bit of time to contemplate the words and ideals that defined the nation. Though the exercise works better in my head than it does in practice-it is always a challenge to get my nine- and six-year kids to sit quietly on a day promising parades and fireworks-I never fail to get something out of the experience. Ours is a family tradition of listening while National Public Radio personalities recite the Declaration of Independence.

By the вЂњdawnвЂ™s early light,вЂќ Key saw the huge garrison flag, now on view at the National Museum of American History, waving above Fort McHenry and he realized that the Americans had survived the battle and stopped the enemy advance.Д®very 4th of July, I ask my family to sit down in front of the radio as if weвЂ™re tuning in to one of Franklin Delano RooseveltвЂ™s Fireside Chats, the nationally broadcasted speeches the 32nd president made between 19.

American national anthem lyrics racist meaning