HR0625 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0625 LRB100 14732 MST 29645 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Most of us, as school children, are taught the story that Francis Scott Key wrote the Star-Spangled Banner, our National Anthem, while a prisoner aboard a British ship during the War of 1812 as he watched American troops attempting to hold off the invading British; and

WHEREAS, Today, the Star-Spangled Banner is a song that instills pride in millions of Americans every time it is sung; and

WHEREAS, The version of the Star-Spangled Banner that most Americans are familiar with makes no mention of the black soldiers that shed blood and lost their lives fighting to keep the American flag flying over Baltimore, Maryland; and

WHEREAS, Most Americans are not aware that what would become our National Anthem contained a verse that was removed before the song became popular; and

WHEREAS, Francis Scott Key held derogatory views towards African Americans and the missing verse was removed because it was feared that it could be misconstrued as racist; and

WHEREAS, The missing verse: "And where is that band who so vauntingly swore, that the havoc of war and the battle's confusion a home and a Country should leave us no more? Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution. 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"; and

WHEREAS, Francis Scott Key aggressively worked to repatriate enslaved Africans back to the continent of Africa, because he believed, in agreement with the words of Thomas Jefferson, that Africans could never coexist with white Americans because of the "deep rooted prejudices entertained by the whites; ten thousand recollections, by the blacks of the injuries they have sustained; new provocations; the real distinctions which nature has made; and many other circumstances ... will produce convulsions which will never end but in the extermination of the one or the other race"; and

WHEREAS, The vacancies in the stories told about our collective history must be filled in with every honest and humble effort, so that our citizens are able to face the complex emotions and disturbing facts that feed so much anger and confusion and threats which are obstacles to our advancing in the cause of justice and lasting peace; and

WHEREAS, Teachers and scholars are available throughout our State to assist young and old alike to build a base of knowledge that can bring minds and hearts to a common understanding of what still remains as our Constitutional imperative, to establish a more perfect union; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we encourage all citizens to familiarize themselves with the original lyrics of the Star-Spangled Banner.