Star Spangled Banner
This week, we will experience one of the most significant American elections in history. Through campaign slogans of “Make American Great Again, Again!” and “Battle for the Soul of the Nation,” it seems that the each candidate is focusing on the foundations of our democracy. In this vein, we will be studying the lyrics of America’s national anthem and linking them to issues of Black migration. All materials for this assignment are linked below and are also on Canvas-Pages. There are two parts to the assignment. Here is how to proceed: Part I – Background reading 1) Read the all the lyrics to “The Star Spangled Banner.” http://www.lyricsondemand.com/miscellaneouslyrics/nationalanthemslyrics/usanationalanthemlyrics.html (Links to an external site.) . 2) Read the New York Times article, “Is the National Anthem Racist?” https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/03/arts/music/colin-kaepernick-national-anthem.html?_r=0 (Links to an external site.) . 3) Read and digest Jason Johnson’s article, “Star Spangled Bigotry.” https://www.theroot.com/star-spangled-bigotry-the-hidden-racist-history-of-the-1790855893 (Links to an external site.) . (You can catch Prof. Johnson on MSNBC often.) Near the end, there is a message that there are connection problems. There are none–the entire article is there. 4) View the 14-minute video, “So Proudly We Hail.” The link to this video is found WITHIN Jason Johnson’s article. Click on “excellent short documentary” in the last paragraph of the article. Part II -Written Essay In a 2-3 FULL page essay, 1) explain the reasons why it is believed that the “Star Spangled Banner” is inherently racist, 2) discuss the tie to Black migration this song exhibits, and 3) explain the dynamics of Black identity going on in the song and its context. (You might use information from Week 10 readings for this last point).
