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"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", [2] a poem written by American lawyer Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814, after he witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812.
Francis Scott Key. Francis Scott Key (August 1, 1779 – January 11, 1843) [3] was an American lawyer, author, and poet from Frederick, Maryland, best known as the author of the text of the American national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner". [4] Key observed the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in 1814 during the War of 1812.
Some prefer "America the Beautiful" over "The Star-Spangled Banner" due to the latter's war-oriented imagery, while others object to the implicit support of slavery and racism in its third verse; others prefer "The Star-Spangled Banner" because of its war themes. While that national dichotomy has stymied any effort at changing the tradition of ...
The fort’s star-spangled banner measured 42 feet by 30 feet and had 15 stars and 15 stripes. It was the custom in the very early days of the nation to add both a star and a stripe with the ...
Detail from the first sheet music publication of "The Star-Spangled Banner" (Thomas Carr, 1814). Note the F-sharp in the melody. The song, through its bawdy lyrics, gained popularity in London and elsewhere beyond the Anacreontic Society. New lyrics were also fashioned for it, including several patriotic titles in the United States.
Key's poem was later set to the tune of a British song called "To Anacreon in Heaven", the official song of the Anacreontic Society, an 18th-century gentlemen's club of amateur musicians in London. The song eventually became known as "The Star-Spangled Banner". The US Congress made it the national anthem of the United States in 1931.
Star Spangled Banner flag on display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, c. 1964. The Star-Spangled Banner, or the Great Garrison Flag, was the garrison flag that flew over Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor during the naval portion of the Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812.
"Lift Every Voice and Sing" is a hymn with lyrics by James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) and set to music by his brother, J. Rosamond Johnson (1873–1954). Written from the context of African Americans in the late 19th century, the hymn is a prayer of thanksgiving to God as well as a prayer for faithfulness and freedom, with imagery that evokes the biblical Exodus from slavery to the freedom ...