What So Proudly We Hailed? A Question Partly Unanswered

“No refuge could save the hireling and slave
from the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave.
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

The Third Verse of “The Star-Spangled Banner,”

the National Anthem of the United States

I'm sure many of you know the narrative about what we continue to call our “National Anthem.” It is a story that is relegated to the back pages of history because it is a part of our so-called heritage represented in a song we do not truly understand. Crowds of Americans never sing but one verse of the anthem – they fail to investigate the musical composition in its entirety. Still, the racist roots of both the writer, the lyrics, and the history of the anthem should be shared. Many consider the song offensive in nature when they learn its history.

Some enslaved blacks in the United States escaped and joined the British army to fight America in the War of 1812 – they were called the Colonial Marines. These slaves joined the British to get freedom.

The slaves and people of color living along the Chesapeake, and in the Tidewater regions of the mid-Atlantic states, were faced with several choices during the War of 1812. They could either fight for the United States, a nation that professed equality and freedom but lacked delivery, watch from the sidelines, or take a chance to secure freedom by joining the British forces.

Precedent for such action was set during the American Revolution when Lord Dunmore, Royal Governor of Virginia, issued his 1775 proclamation offering enslaved persons freedom if they fought on the side of Great Britain. It is estimated that between 800-2,000 served in what became known as Dunmore’s Ethiopian Brigade, which saw limited combat during the war. After the Revolution, many of these former slaves turned soldiers of fortune and relocated to islands in the Caribbean or to Canada.

By the time the War of 1812 erupted many northern states had abolished slavery. However, such states granted few, if any, rights to citizens. In the South, slavery remained a way of life and an economic pillar.

On April 2, 1814, a proclamation issued by Sir Alexander Cochrane, Vice Admiral and Commander in Chief of His Majesty’s Ships and Vessels in North America stated that those who served in the King’s forces would be liberated after the war. Cochrane had a thousand copies of his proclamation printed and distributed to the enslaved population residing in the Chesapeake Bay region. Cochrane hoped to “annoy Americans, and bring the consequences of the war home to their own doors.”

Francis Scott Key, the lyricist of the National Anthem in August of 1814, witnessed the Colonial Marines, as part of the British troops that attacked Americans outside of D.C. and drove them back into the city, setting the White House on fire.

So it was that in September, Key also witnessed 25 hours of continuous British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore. After seeing the fort survive, Key became so moved that he wrote a poem called “The Defence (sic) of Fort M’Henry” that became the national anthem.

In the third verse, Key had a direct and special message for the enslaved people who had dared to fight for their freedom – we will pursue you to get revenge. His unmistakeable message to the blacks fighting for freedom – we will hunt you down and the search will leave you in terror because, when we find you, your next stop is the gloom of the grave.

Jamie Stiehm, Washington columnist for Creators Syndicate, speaks of Key …

“Lawyer-poet Key, born to massive slaveholding wealth in Maryland, was one of the richest men in America. He liked it that way.

“As he grew older and darker, Key sought to buttress slavery, known as our own 'peculiar institution.' He did just that, past his last breath. The U.S. Supreme Court, which he helped shape, stood strongly for slavery. So beside the anthem, his political legacy as a critical political player in upholding slavery is devastating.

“In his (18)50s, Key became an adviser to President Andrew Jackson, who was also a wealthy self-made Southern slaveholder.

“At the same time, Key was named by Jackson as the U.S. district attorney for the nation’s capital, where he prosecuted race and slavery laws to the fullest extent, even to the death penalty. He also aggressively prosecuted early abolitionists, who had founded the anti-slavery movement in 1833 … Jackson’s presidency brought brutal, racially motivated mob violence like never before, including a race riot in Washington, D.C. Jackson had no sympathy for mobs, but even less for slaves and free blacks.

“Then came the worst cut of all: Key prevailed on Jackson to name Key’s own brother-in-law, Roger Taney, to the Cabinet and then to the ultimate prize: chief justice of the United States.”

(Jamie Stiehm. “‘The Star-Spangled Banner’s’ racist lyrics reflect its slave owner author, Francis Scott Key.” The Undefeated. September 6, 2018.)

And, by the way, all of Francis Scott Key's descendants sided with the Confederacy during the Civil War. Key, himself, owned around 20 African-American slaves at the time.

This is just a small window into the reality of affirming that the heritage of America is based on White supremacy in the original sin of slavery.

Elizabeth Martinez – American Chicana feminist and a long-time community organizer, activist, author, and educator – in her paper “What is White Supremacy?” defines the term in this way:

“White Supremacy is a historically based, institutionally perpetuated system of exploitation and oppression of continents, nations, and peoples of color by white peoples and nations of the European continent, for the purpose of maintaining and defending a system of wealth, power, and privilege.”

(Elizabeth Martinez. “What is White Supremacy?” February
 1998.)

Martinez cites three stages of White supremacy in the U.S. The first stage was the European seizure of the lands inhabited by indigenous peoples. Next, the United States could not have developed economically as a nation without enslaved African labor – the second stage. And, the third major piece in the true story of the formation of the United States as a nation was the take‐over of half of Mexico by war – what we know as today's Southwest. 

The Crossroads anti-racist collective uses the following definition of internalized racist superiority:

“A complex multi-generational socialization process that teaches white people to believe, accept and /or live out superior societal definitions of self and to fit into and live out superior social roles. These behaviors define and normalize the race construct and it outcome – white supremacy.”

Why would we continue to recognize Key's “Star-Spangled Banner” as the national anthem? I cannot understand how the song has stood for so long. In deference to the brutal cruelty of slavery, one would think the song should be replaced.

The song bothered abolitionists of the day. They, too, were irked by how easily the deaths of enslaved Africans could be celebrated in the same stanza in which this land was hailed as “the land of the free.” Abolitionists even created other songs to the tune of “The Star-Spangled Banner” that spoke of the true pain and costs of slavery and how desperately freedom was desired. Change, if and when it does occur, is usually a long time coming.