how is the star spangled banner song racist

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“His troops were slaughtered so aggressively,” Johnson says, “that he had to run home and hide in Washington DC. During reconstruction, the Star Spangled banner was rejected as the national Anthem for being too racist. The debate over Key’s lyrics still continues. The United Kingdom was by then an ally, The Washington Post reported. His unit was beaten and humiliated by them. In the early 20th Century, all but the first verse were cut not for their racism, but for their anti-British bent. He points out that Key himself faced the black Colonial Marines in battle.

American writers contrasted these miserable hirelings and slaves with the virtuous all-volunteer citizen armies of America. They say it echoes similar rhetoric used since the Revolutionary War to describe the forces of the king of England, especially those units purchased from German princes. They point out that Key never told anyone what he actually meant, and some historians interpret his mention of hirelings and slaves to reference all of the invading British forces. Many historians agree with Johnson, but some disagree. “It was an amazing opportunity for African Americans to fight for their freedom,” says Johnson. Most of the men were recruited into the Royal Navy or into the Colonial Marines, a mostly black unit, which fought with distinction. Key was a typical white Marylander of his time, and he favored slavery.Ībout 6,000 African Americans fled to the British during the War of 1812, on the promise of freedom. “So it’s clearly racist it’s clearly pro-slavery, but it’s pretty much in line with the kind of man that Francis Scott Key was.” “The entire song sort of leads up to this point,” Johnson adds, “where he’s essentially saying to these terrible, ungrateful, black people, this is the consequence of standing up against the United States.” Johnson is an associate professor at Morgan State University in Baltimore, and has a piece in online magazine The Root on this issue. “Essentially,” says writer and academic Jason Johnson, “Francis Scott Key was happy to see former slaves, who had joined the British as part of their Colonial Marines, getting slaughtered and killed as they attempted to take Baltimore.” The language is definitely archaic and seems a little confusing unless you know the context. (Most performances stop after the first stanza.) The third section. From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave.” Some believe The Star-Spangled Banner contains racist language, most notably in its third stanza, which is seldom sung today.

How is the star spangled banner song racist