In the early morning hours of September 14, 1814, a Maryland-born attorney aboard a British warship watched on as rockets and shells rained on Fort McHenry just off Baltimore harbor.
That man, Francis Scott Key, was aboard the ship negotiating for the release of a captured American civilian, Dr. William Beanes, when he was forced to remain until after the battle as a condition of Beanes' release.
After a night of bombardment, just as all hope was lost for the Americans, Key squinted, and as the smoke cleared, an American flag emerged, flying atop the fort. The attack failed and Baltimore was spared. Moments later when Key was released, he wrote a poem on the back of an envelope dedicated to the epic battle he had just witnessed. That poem would go on to become the United States national anthem: The Star Spangled Banner.
National anthems are a core feature of any country's identity. A representation of the values that the country espouses. An evocation of the history of the country and the adversity its people faced. The Star Spangled Banner is certainly no exception to that.
In the face of defeat and demise, liberty and freedom won. That flag atop Fort McHenry symbolized the heart of that young nation. Despite the struggles, America stood strong. And as cliche as that may sound, that was exactly the sentiment Francis Scott Key wanted to encapsulate.
The story behind the American national anthem is intriguing, to say the least. The Battle at Fort McHenry took place in the midst of the War of 1812. The decision to go to war against their former overlord Britain was a controversial one; the United States was still very young and building itself out of the rubble of the Revolutionary War. Additionally, Britain was still the US' largest trading partner, so support even from ardent patriots like Key was meager. That all changed when the British devastated Washington DC, in the process sending the White House into flames. The destruction of the capital heavily demoralized Americans but also motivated them to fight back against the British.
That's why Key was involved in the war effort and is why he found himself on that boat discussing Beanes' release. Moved by the beautiful image of the flag flying amidst the rubble and smoke, Key wrote the poem which he later transformed into a song by setting it to the music of, quite ironically one might add, an old English drinking song called "To Anacreon in Heaven".
The piece was printed just under a week after the battle as "The Defence of Fort McHenry" and thereafter it took the east coast by storm. However, it wasn't until November 1814 that a newspaper printed Key's composition under the title of "The Star Spangled Banner", which is the name that stuck.
Francis Scott Key went out to become a pretty prominent figure in Washington, eventually serving in President Andrew Jackson's "Kitchen Cabinet" (his unofficial cabinet of close friends and advisors) and was then appointed US attorney for the District of Columbia.
Throughout the 19th century, the song became decently popular amongst American patriotic tunes. However, it wasn't until the Civil War that Key's song became even more popular, as the "star-spangled" American flag described in the lyrics became a symbol of national unity in a time where America was so deeply divided. Woodrow Wilson signed an executive order making the song the country's anthem in 1916, and then in 1931, under the Hoover presidency, Congress officially voted to designate it as the national anthem of the United States.
Although the anthem is used in official military and government occasions, most Americans today hear it at sports events. Before football, baseball, and basketball games the song is routinely played. And it's in this context that many have now started to use the national anthem in protest of certain social injustices. The most prominent example being that of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who during the 2016 NFL regular season, knelt during the playing of the anthem before each game.
The consequence? He was released at the end of the season and never re-signed again.
The kneeling during the anthem, albeit controversial, is a sign of protest mostly used by modern civil rights activists. In the wave of Black Live Matter protests that spread throughout the country in 2020, athletes started to emulate Kaepernick's form of dissent and virtually all kneeled before games. Why should someone stand and respect a song that represents a country which has, for centuries, oppressed Black people and other minorities? Why should someone show patriotism for a country that has never supported them?
It's important to realize that even Francis Scott Key, the person who wrote this beautiful tribute to unity, liberty, and freedom, was a slave owner and argued cases against abolitionists.
Whatever the case may be, no one denies the fact that the "Star Spangled Banner" is the perennial emblem of "American-ness". America stood strong through battle, and with it the ideals of liberty and freedom prevailed over tyranny. Yet for many, that song is the symbol of a country who has failed to uphold those very ideals on which it is founded upon.
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