To understand the anthem and its legacy, we need to know more than just Key’s words. It is a product of a time when the stain of slavery was clear on the nation and part of US law. “The Star-Spangled Banner” nevertheless shares its conceptual DNA with the United States as a whole. How Colin Kaepernick is bravely speaking truth to power In this respect, “The Star-Spangled Banner” is not racist.
“The Star-Spangled Banner” thus honors American military heroes, black and white, without regard to race.
Another escaped slave, Charles Ball, writes in his memoirs of being among the American soldiers of the Chesapeake Bay Flotilla who courageously repelled a night attack and saved the city. Escaped slave William Williams served in the US infantry at Fort McHenry and was killed by a fragment of a British bomb. America’s soldiers included mainly whites, but also free and escaped blacks. “The Star-Spangled Banner” celebrates the heroes who defended Fort McHenry in the face of almost certain defeat against the most powerful gunships of the era. Yet in 1814 Key’s lyric honored American soldiers both black and white. The graphic language of Key’s denunciation of this British enemy led to the removal of Verse 3 in sheet music editions of the song in World War I, when the United States and Britain became staunch allies.
For Key, however, the British mercenaries were scoundrels and the Colonial Marines were traitors who threatened to spark a national insurrection. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar) Tony Avelar/APįortunately, Britain honored this promise after the war, relocating the former slaves and their families to Halifax and Trinidad. San Francisco 49ers quarterbacks Colin Kaepernick, left, and Blaine Gabbert stand on the sideline during the second half of an NFL preseason football game against the Green Bay Packers on Friday, Aug.
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