Racist songs and symbols.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

Maryland, my Maryland-such a lovely state song exalting the virtues of the Confederacy and the hatred against Lincoln. Before anyone argues for the preservation of history, this song, while written at the time of the Civil War, wasn't adapted as the official state song until 1939. That seems like a direct slap in the face to any progress made by the war. How can a state song speak for only part of its citizens?

Here's a snip:

I hear the distant thunder-hum,
Maryland, My Maryland!
The Old Line's bugle, fife, and drum,
Maryland, My Maryland!
She is not dead, nor deaf, nor dumb-
Huzza! she spurns the Northern scum!
She breathes! she burns! she'll come! she'll come!
Maryland! My Maryland!

In addition, this question of course includes state flags with the confederate flag on them.

[Swamp Rat]

1. Is it still the state song of Maryland?

x(

[SemiCharmedQuark]

2. Yep, it sure is.

Every so often, they try and change it, but are unsuccessful.

[FrenchieCat]

3. I'm surprised about that!

Wow. That's kinda of scary.

[kwassa]

4. Carry Me Back to Old Virginny (state song)

These are the original lyrics, I believe. The real shocker is that the author, James Bland, is black.

http://vaudc.org/lyrics.html

CARRY ME BACK TO OLD VIRGINIA

by James Bland

Carry me back to old Virginia,
There's where the cotton and the corn and taters grow,
There's where the birds warble sweet in the springtime,
There's where this old darkey's heart am long'd to go,
There's where I labored so hard for old massa,
Day after day in the field of yellow corn,
No place on earth do I love more sincerely
Than old Virginia, the state where I was born.

CHORUS: Carry me back to old Virginia,
There's where the cotton and the corn and taters grow,
There's where the birds warble sweet in the springtime,
There's where this old darkey's heart am long'd to go.

Carry me back to old Virginia,
There let me live 'till I wither and decay,
Long by the old Dismal Swamp have I wandered,
There's where this old darkey's life will pass away.
Massa and missis have long gone before me,
Soon we will meet on that bright and golden shore,
There we'll be happy and free from all sorrow,
There's where we'll meet and we'll never part no more.

CHORUS

http://www.vahistorical.org/sva2003/cmb.htm

Carry Me Back to Old Virginny

In 1940 the Virginia Legislature adopted "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" as the state song. Because its lyrics about slavery were offensive to many, Bland's piece was relegated to "state song emeritus" in 1997; the search for a new state song for Virginia continues to this day.

[kwassa]

5. Jame Bland's bio, kind of interesting

http://parlorsongs.com/issues/2003-11/thismonth/featureb.asp

James A. Bland (b. 1854, Queens NY, d. 1911, Philadelphia) was one of America's earliest and more famous Black composers. He was a performer and member of the "all Negro" minstrel group headed by Billy Kersandis. Bland was at one time, the highest paid minstrel man in America, earning over $10,000 in 1880, a huge salary at that time. He became popular in Europe as well and toured Europe and lived in London for twenty years. It is said he lived a lavish life and in spite of his incredible earnings, in 1901, he returned from Europe, penniless and broke, and went back to Washington, DC. Several of his other songs have also been carried down through history as lasting hits including, Oh, Dem Golden Slippers (1879), Hand Me Down My Walking Cane (1880) and De Golden Wedding (1880). In addition to these songs, he wrote well over 700 other songs. Bland was well educated, attending night classes at Howard University and ultimately receiving his law degree from there. He was the first Black man to be appointed examiner in the United States Patent Office. Bland died of tuberculosis on May 6,1911. He was buried in Merion Cemetery near Philadelphia and in spite of his fame and accomplishments there was not even a death notice in the newspaper to mark his passing.