Is The National Anthem Racist?
The Star-Spangled Banner, long a treasured symbol of national unity, has suddenly become "one of the most racist, pro-slavery songs" in American culture. Why is this happening? And more importantly, is it true? USA Today columnist James Robbins explores the history of the song and its author to answer these questions.
“The Star-Spangled Banner” was composed by _____________________________.
John Phillip SousaScott JoplinFrancis Scott KeySanford A. Moeller“The Star-Spangled Banner” was written after the composer witnessed which battle in the War of 1812?
Battle of Queenston HeightsBattle of Fort McHenryBattle of StoningtonBattle of Fort GeorgeAlthough a slave owner himself, the composer of the national anthem was a prominent attorney that offered free legal representation to slaves petitioning the Maryland court for their freedom.
TrueFalse“Hirelings and slaves” was a common rhetorical device of the time and an all-purpose insult that could be used to refer to ___________________________.
enemy troopsforeign leaderscorrupt politiciansall of the aboveWhat song did Martin Luther King Jr. and his supporters sing at the statehouse when they reached the end of their famous Selma march?
“Say it Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud”“Yankee Doodle Dandy”“The Star-Spangled Banner”“Georgia”
- Like a growing list of American national symbols, the Left has declared “The Star-Spangled Banner” as “racist” and “pro-slavery.”
Along with an increasing number of American national symbols, the Left has begun to wage a war on “The Star-Spangled Banner” and its composer, Francis Scott Key.
View sourceFor example, Jason Johnson, journalism professor at Morgan State University and news commentator, wrote in a 2016 op-ed about the anthem: “It is one of the most racist, pro-slavery, anti-black songs in the American lexicon…”
View source"This song is wrong; it shouldn't have been there, we didn't have it till 1931, so it won't kill us if it goes away," said Alice Huffman, the president of the California NAACP, which has called for discarding the anthem.
View source“We cannot ignore the painful reminder, written into our anthem’s third verse, of just how deeply injustice is rooted in the American tradition. … Our national freedom song is an ode to slavery,” said St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter III at his swearing-in speech, as reported by Twin Cities Pioneer Press.
View sourceRelated reading: “Erasing America: Losing Our Future By Destroying Our Past” – James S. Robbins
View source- The Left says the national anthem’s “slave” reference is pro-slavery, but historical context reveals the story is more complicated.
The “racist” and “pro-slavery” passage of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” according to some progressives, is the little-known, infrequently performed third stanza in which Francis Scott Key mocks the retreating British soldiers, writing, “No refuge could save the hireling and slave, from the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave.”
View sourceJohnson described the stanza as dedicated to “decrying the former slaves who were now working for the British army”—a reference to the British Second Corps of Colonial Marines, which was composed of former American slaves who had been encouraged to escape bondage and fight alongside British troops.
View sourceHowever, historians disagree about the third stanza’s meaning. As reported by Public Radio International, some historians maintain that Key’s reference to hirelings and slaves “echoes similar rhetoric used since the Revolutionary War to describe the forces of the king of England, especially those units purchased from German princes. American writers contrasted these miserable hirelings and slaves with the virtuous all-volunteer citizen armies of America.”
View sourceThere is no direct evidence that Key was referring to the Second Corps of Colonial Marines in the verse, or that he even knew that the unit existed. Notably, the unit was not even present at the battle.
View sourceRelated reading: “‘Star-Spangled Banner’ Critics Miss the Point” – Mark Clague, CNN
View source- “The Star-Spangled Banner” composer Francis Scott Key had a complex record on slavery and race.
Like many Americans living in the early 19th century, Francis Scott Key’s record on race was complex. On the one hand, he owned slaves himself. On the other, he offered free legal representation to slaves petitioning the Maryland court for their freedom. In 1835, Key served as prosecutor in a case in Washington D.C. of an enslaved black man, Arthur Bowen, who was accused of threatening his white female owner. But when a riot ensued over the incident, Key stood between Bowen and a lynch mob bent on killing him.
View source“As a founder and officer of the American Colonization Society (1816--1964), Key viewed slavery as a moral wrong that required a solution,” writes Mark Clague. “Rather than abolish slavery, however, the society purchased slaves and offered them passage to Africa.”
View sourceRelated reading: “Francis Scott Key, the Reluctant Patriot” – Smithsonian Magazine
View source- The Left’s targeting of America’s unifying national symbols ends up only creating more division.
Before the Left’s criticism of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” Americans generally viewed the anthem as a positive message and its performance a unifying moment, as it was intended to be. Most Americans didn’t even know the third stanza existed.
View sourceAuthor and columnist James S. Robbins on American national symbols across the country becoming targets of the Left: “The Lincoln Memorial, erected to a man who opposed and destroyed the Confederacy, was spray-painted and a bust of him was burned in Chicago. Activists proposed that Mt. Rushmore be destroyed. An Ohio Revolutionary War statue was decapitated. The Iwo Jima memorial outside Marine Corps Base Quantico was vandalized.”
View source“Americans have the right to protest, of course,” writes Robbins. “That is one of the strengths of the country. But attacking our national symbols is not productive. It gets attention, but the wrong kind. It moves away from creative solutions, not towards them. It foments division, not unity. It further hardens the seemingly irreconcilable camps into which the country has fallen.”
View sourceRelated reading: “15 Years Later, Let’s Respect Our Flag” – James S. Robbins, USA Today
View source
Is America’s national anthem racist?
Had you asked this question just a few years ago to fans at a baseball, basketball, or football game, they would have assumed you had imbibed one too many beers.
Today, thanks to an assault by the progressive left on “The Star-Spangled Banner” and its composer, Francis Scott Key, you might get a different reaction.
For example, here’s what Jason Johnson, journalism professor at Morgan State University and popular cable news commentator, wrote about the anthem: “It is one of the most racist, pro-slavery, anti-black songs in the American lexicon…”
Is Johnson serious? Actually, he is. And sadly, a lot of progressives agree with him. But why? To answer that question, we need a brief history of the song.
Key wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner” after witnessing the American victory at the Battle of Ft. McHenry during the War of 1812, a rare bright spot in the young country’s second conflict with Britain—a conflict in which the Americans mostly got their butts kicked.
Critics like Johnson focus on the third stanza, in which Key mocks the retreating British soldiers. Before describing those lyrics, I need to make a point: The third stanza is virtually unknown. Almost no American has ever sung, read, or heard it. But even so, it’s not nearly as offensive as it’s made out to be.
Here’s what Key wrote: “No refuge could save the hireling and slave, from the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave.”
The claim of racism focuses, of course, on Key’s use of the word “slave” which, so the argument goes, refers to the British Second Corps of Colonial Marines. This unit was composed of former American slaves who had been encouraged to escape bondage and fight alongside British troops.
According to this line of thinking, the slave-owning Key, a prominent attorney, was terribly upset by the idea of freed blacks fighting against their former masters and was so gratified by their defeat that he inserted this line into his poem.
Like many Americans living in the early 19th century, Key’s record on race was mixed. On the one hand, he owned slaves himself. On the other, he offered free legal representation to slaves petitioning the Maryland court for their freedom.
In 1835, he served as prosecutor in a case in Washington, D.C. of an enslaved black man, Arthur Bowen, who was accused of threatening his white female owner. But when a riot ensued over the incident, Key bravely stood between Bowen and a lynch mob bent on killing him.
With respect to the anthem, there is no direct evidence that Key was referring to the Second Corps of Colonial Marines, that he even knew that the unit existed, or cared if it did. It should further be noted that this unit was not even present at the battle, so Key could not have seen them fleeing the field.
Why, then, did Key use the word “slave”?
We’ll never know for sure, of course, but it’s important to note that Key was not the first person to use the expression “hirelings and slaves.” It was a common rhetorical device of the time, used on both sides of the Atlantic.
You find it in newspaper articles and English-language literature well before the onset of the war. It was an all-purpose insult that could be used to refer to enemy troops, foreign leaders, corrupt politicians, or anyone else in need of a put-down.
For example, in 1795, long before the Second Corps of Colonial Marines even existed, a dispatch from Baltimore condemned the “the Hireling Slaves” of the English king, George III.
And remember, “slave” was a convenient rhyme for “grave.” Key was, after all, writing a poem. It may be as simple as that.
Before the recent ruckus, no one who sang the national anthem thought it sent a racial message. If anything, people believed that the anthem promoted unity, as it was intended to do. Besides, as previously noted, hardly any Americans even knew the third stanza existed.
During World War II, GIs trying to uncover German infiltrators would ask suspected spies to sing the second (or third or fourth) verse of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” If they didn’t know the words, they were assumed to be genuine Americans.
Those who declare the flag and the national anthem to be racist would do well to remember that Martin Luther King, Jr. and his supporters carried the American flag during their famous Selma march. When they reached the statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama, guess what song they sang?
That’s right. "The Star-Spangled Banner."
I’m James Robbins, columnist for USAToday and author of Erasing America, for Prager University.
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