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Star Spangled Banner (national anthem)

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Marvin Gaye walking on a basketball court, with players and the crowd behind him.

Marvin’s Last Protest

In 1968 Gaye shifted his musical vision to give voice to impoverished Black urban communities and the rising dissent against involvement in the Vietnam War.
by Mark Anthony Neal via Medium on April 1, 2024
“America” carrying the nation’s flag, circa 1860. Lithograph by Currier and Ives.

Our Flag Was Still There

In his comprehensive study of the national anthem, a historian and musicologist examines our complicated relationship to a famously challenging song.
by Peter Sagal via New York Times on June 14, 2022
A 1912 painting by Edward Percy Moran shows Francis Scott Key pointing to the American flag at Fort McHenry in Baltimore.

The National Anthem Was a 19th-Century Meme

Like many patriotic songs of its time, ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ was created by fitting a popular tune with topical new lyrics.
by Mark Clague via The Wall Street Journal on June 11, 2022
Whitney Houston singing the national anthem at the Super Bowl

The NFL, the National Anthem, and the Super Bowl

A brief history of their tangled saga of patriotism and dissent.
by Mark Clague via The Conversation on February 10, 2022
Hendrix performing at Woodstock

Rewinding Jimi Hendrix’s National Anthem

His blazing rendition at Woodstock still echoes throughout the years, reminding us of what is worth fighting for in the American experiment.
by Paul Grimstad via The New Yorker on January 26, 2021

Fifty Years Ago, Hendrix’s Woodstock Anthem Expressed the Hopes and Fears of a Nation

It also inspired my own scholarship on the national anthem.
by Mark Clague via The Conversation on August 14, 2019
partner

Donald Trump’s Use of the “Star-Spangled Banner” Is an American Tradition

It's a short song with a complicated history.
by Michael J. Pfeifer via HNN on May 29, 2018

Patriotism, Partisanship, and “The Star-Spangled Banner”: A View from the Early Republic

Music continues to hold an allure for elites seeking to politicize patriotism in support of their privilege.
by Michael D. Hattem, Billy Coleman via The Junto on September 28, 2017

How the National Anthem Got Tangled Up With American Sports

Like most relationships, it’s complicated.
by Tevi Troy via Politico Magazine on September 26, 2017
Newspaper clipping from an Abolitionist paper

The Hypocrisy of This Nation!

How abolitionists viewed the American flag.
by Matthew J. Clavin via Lapham’s Quarterly on June 14, 2023

The “Star-Spangled Banner” Hysteria of 1917

The Boston Symphony’s refusal to play the national anthem in its one concerts triggered a xenophobic panic that led an arrest.
by Alex Ross via The New Yorker on July 2, 2019
African American medalists Tommie Smith and John Carlos with their fists raised during the national anthem at the 1968 Olympics.

This Isn’t the First Time Professional Athletics, Protest and Politics Have Mixed

The long history of athletes taking a stand for racial justice.
by Michael MacCambridge via The Oklahoma Eagle on September 1, 2018

The Music I Love Is a Racial Minefield

How I learned to fiddle my way through America's deeply troubling history.
by Michael Mechanic via Mother Jones on December 21, 2017
Tommie Smith and John Carlos raise their fists during a 1968 Olympics award ceremony
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The Black Athlete in America

Colin Kaepernick continues a long tradition of athletes using their celebrity to protest America's racial inequality.
by Matt Spolar, Brian Kamerzel via Retro Report on December 21, 2017
Lady Columbia drawing from 1890.

Before Lady Liberty, There Was Lady Columbia, America's First National Mascot

The forgotten figure symbolized the hopes—and myths—of the early United States.
by Cari Shane via Smithsonian on August 30, 2023
Woody Guthrie playing his guitar

This Anthem Was Made For You and Me?

A breakdown of how Woody Guthrie's hit song "This Land" has evolved over time.
by Abigail Shelton via Clio and the Contemporary on July 2, 2021
New York workers, angered by the Mayor's apparent anti-Vietnam-War sympathies, wave American flags as they march in a demonstration near City Hall in New York City on May 15, 1970.

The 'Hard Hat Riot' of 1970 Pitted Construction Workers Against Anti-War Protesters

The Kent State shootings further widened the chasm among a citizenry divided over the Vietnam War.
by Angela Serratore via Smithsonian on May 8, 2020
Barricades marking a baseball field as closed.
partner

On What Should Have Been Opening Day, America Needs Baseball More Than Ever

When it's safe to return, baseball can play a big role in uniting Americans and providing comfort.
by Randy Roberts, Johnny Smith via Made By History on March 26, 2020

Nationalist Anthems

Remembering a time when composers mattered more.
by Sudip Bose via The American Scholar on December 2, 2019

How the American Flag Became Sacred—and the Hottest Brand in the Nation

It took decades for the "flag cult" as we know it to get rolling.
by Lisa Hix via Collectors Weekly on July 2, 2019

NFL Tells Players Patriotism Trumps Protest

Here’s why that didn’t work during WWI.
by Chad Williams via The Conversation on May 29, 2018

Roger Goodell’s Father Had a Political Backbone—Why Doesn’t Roger?

The NFL commissioner is bending to pressure from a reactionary Republican president—something his father refused to do.
by John Nichols via The Nation on May 27, 2018
High school student in Shreveport.

Taking a Knee and Taking Down a Monument

The struggle over Shreveport's Confederate monument converges with talk about a national anthem protest by high-schoolers.
by Brent McDonald via New York Times Op-Docs on January 9, 2018

The Forgotten Origins of Politics in Sports

Black athletes didn’t “politicize” American sports. They’ve been a battleground from the very beginning.
by Kenneth Cohen via Slate on January 2, 2018

A Night at the Garden

Newly discovered footage of the time 20,000 American Nazis descended upon midtown Manhattan.
by Marshall Curry via Field Of Vision on October 10, 2017

Civil-Rights Protests Have Never Been Popular

Activists can’t persuade their contemporaries—they’re aiming at the next generation.
by Ta-Nehisi Coates via The Atlantic on October 3, 2017

The NFL Has Officially Whitewashed Colin Kaepernick’s Protest

The co-opting of protests against racism has a storied history in our country.
by Louis Moore via Vox on September 28, 2017

“Taking a Knee”: Simple Phrase, Powerful—and Changing—Meaning

Used in military and football slang, the phrase dates back to at least 1960.
by John Kelly via Mashed Radish on September 25, 2017

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