Post by pavel on Mar 17, 2016 22:48:05 GMT -6
Maryland moves to rid state song of Civil War references, including calling Northerners 'scum'
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Maryland Senate voted Thursday to remove references to the Confederacy from the official state song and replace the controversial portions of the historic anthem with a verse from a poem that describes the state's natural beauty.
The 38-to-8 vote came after a protracted debate about how Maryland should address its painful past.
Supporters of the bill said the song titled "Maryland, My Maryland," written by James Ryder Randall in 1861, is not unifying and does not represent Marylanders, then or now.
Randall wrote the song while he was upset over the death of a friend who was shot while protesting Union troops as they marched through Baltimore. It calls for Marylanders to take up arms and join the South in its battle against the Union, calls Northerners "scum," and describes President Abraham Lincoln as a tyrant.
Read more: www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/03/maryland_state_song_confederac.html
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Maryland Senate voted Thursday to remove references to the Confederacy from the official state song and replace the controversial portions of the historic anthem with a verse from a poem that describes the state's natural beauty.
The 38-to-8 vote came after a protracted debate about how Maryland should address its painful past.
Supporters of the bill said the song titled "Maryland, My Maryland," written by James Ryder Randall in 1861, is not unifying and does not represent Marylanders, then or now.
Randall wrote the song while he was upset over the death of a friend who was shot while protesting Union troops as they marched through Baltimore. It calls for Marylanders to take up arms and join the South in its battle against the Union, calls Northerners "scum," and describes President Abraham Lincoln as a tyrant.
Read more: www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/03/maryland_state_song_confederac.html