24, 1814, the Colonial Marines had participated in the Battle of Bladensburg outside Washington, D.C. O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.īy the time Key wrote these words, the British military included a regiment of former slaves called the Colonial Marines, whom the British had encouraged to escape and then trained and armed. No refuge could save the hireling and slaveįrom the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,Īnd the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave As The Intercept recently noted, Key’s little-known third stanza includes these lines: 14, 1814, after witnessing the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore during the (poorly named) War of 1812. It took 117 years from the time “The Star-Spangled Banner” was written in 1814 until it was legally enshrined as the American national anthem in 1931.įrancis Scott Key wrote the poem that became the song’s lyrics on Sept. Part of that means facing the reality that everything about “The Star-Spangled Banner” - its lyrics, its author, and the path it took to becoming the national anthem - is inextricably bound up with America’s gruesome history of racism. has barely begun dragging the unflattering aspects of its past out into the light. It’s the clearest demonstration possible that even in 2016, the U.S.

The very fact this controversy was surprising may be the most significant thing about it. Much of the debate generated by Kaepernick has been on subjects directly connected to his actions: police brutality, free speech, and the rights and obligations of professional athletes.īut it’s also sparked nationwide discussion of something more tangential that no one saw coming - the meaning and history of “The Star-Spangled Banner” itself, including whether it should be rewritten or replaced entirely.

Words of the star spangled banner song