Great new proposal for Maryland's state song
Marylands state song celebrates the Confederacy. This alternative hails Harriet Tubman and Elijah Cummings.
August 21, 2020 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
Add to list
For 40 years, Maryland lawmakers have tried to replace the state song Maryland, My Maryland, which celebrates the Confederacy with lyrics many consider racist. A 2018 bill to redesignate the song as a historical song died in committee.
In the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody this spring, Maryland House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) the first African American person to hold that powerful position called for getting rid of the song altogether.
And now U.S. Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Md.), who served nine years in Annapolis before being elected to Congress, has helped write a history-laden alternative.
Raskin introduced Maryland, My Maryland (The Free State Song) at a Zoom meeting of Maryland Democrats earlier this week that was part of the online Democratic National Convention.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/maryland-song-raskin/2020/08/20/cb00e04a-e307-11ea-8181-606e603bb1c4_story.html