Francis Scott Key and the National Anthem
Part 1
Francis Scott Key
Many Americans probably did not think too deeply about the national anthem. It was a song that people sang in stadiums before major sports events and other important occasions. People would sing or listen to the song with eyes on the American flag. That was it until the next time. It was not until the San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the national anthem on September 12, 2016 in Santa Clara, California to protest the continued oppression and racist police practices toward Black people in America. Many sports stars and others have shown solidarity with Kaepernick by kneeling during the national anthem. All across the country there was immediate reaction, much of it negative, calling Kaepernick unpatriotic. So the debate continues. As a historian, I wanted to know more about the author of the national anthem, Francis Scott Key. So I went on a search to find out about the man and his song. What I found turned out to be so much more.
Francis Scott Key was born on August 1, 1779 in Carroll County, Maryland. His parents were Ann Phoebe Penn Dagworthy and Captain John Ross Key. They owned a plantation called Terra Rubra. His father was a lawyer, a judge, and an officer in the Continental Army. Key married a woman named Mary Tayloe Lloyd. He called her Polly. They had 10 children and lived in a two story brick home in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. Their slaves were responsible for taking care of the children. Key was educated at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland. He became an attorney, author and a poet. He was famous for writing the words to the national anthem of the United States known as “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Francis Scott Key was known as “Frank” to his close political friends. He became a close friend of President Andrew Jackson. Jackson nominated him as District Attorney in 1833 and he served in this position until 1841. Like his father and grandfather before him, Key was a slave owner. He later became a founding and active member of the American Colonization Society (ACS). The goal of the society was to send free Blacks back to Africa. As Attorney General, Key used his position to suppress abolitionists. Abolitionists were people who spoke out against the enslavement of Blacks in newspapers and in town hall meetings. Although Key had freed seven of his slaves and even had defended free Blacks seeking freedom, he made his true feelings known. He actually felt that sending them back to Africa would rid America of its race problem.
Key spoke of Blacks as a “menace’ to White people. In a book entitled “Snow-Storm in August” written by Jefferson Morley, the following statement appears: “Key shared a general view of the free people of color that they were a distinct and inferior race of people, which all experience proves to be the greatest evil that afflicts a community.” In his view African colonization would solve the problem of free Blacks by helping them migrate to Liberia. The author of this book says that Key had worked tirelessly of this dream for more than 20 years. Francis Scott Key felt that Blacks could not handle the responsibilities of liberty in America. His conclusion was that when they moved back to Africa, the United States would be free of slaves and former slaves and this country would be a “land of the free” for White people only