One more confederate “monument” down.
dKos user arodb recently reminded us that the lyrics to Maryland, My Maryland, the state song of my home from age 3 to 17, are rabidly secessionist. I realized that as a child, I always interpreted the lyrics (so much as a third-grader does, which is not much) as referring to the Revolutionary War, probably since the second verse that we sang named those men we learned about in school, Carroll — a signer of the Declaration of Independence — and Howard — a Revolutionary War officer of renown.
Thou wilt not cower in the dust, Maryland, my Maryland.
Thy beaming sword shall never rust, Maryland, my Maryland.
Remember Carroll’s sacred trust,
Remember Howard’s warlike thrust.
And all thy slumberers with the just, Maryland, my Maryland.
Given that perspective, the “despot” of the first line of the song would be King George III.
But it wasn’t, it was Lincoln.
The rest of the song, which runs to many verses, is pretty appalling. We never knew that part.
So I recently asked my brother, who has returned to the home of our youth, if he had understood the song as a confederate anthem way back then, and he said no, he had never known about that.
Following up on that, however, my brother today forwarded an article from the Diamondback, the student newspaper from the University of Maryland, that the University band will no longer play the song. It’s not actually sung by the band, and most people probably think they’re playing “O Christmas Tree” (well, they are playing that, I suppose) but nevertheless, in the wake of Charlottesville, they have decided not to play the song any more at the moment, and probably permanently. From a statement by the band director, quoted in the article:
After much discussion, we agreed that based on the history and lyrics of the song, it should be removed from the [Mighty Sound of Maryland] repertoire.
Thought you might like to know this one additional gesture.