Maryland's official song includes a line about "Northern scum," but the state isn't feeling so Southern anymore.
Though Marylanders live just south of the Mason-Dixon Line, their attitudes and even their accents straddle that border. These days, leaders feel they've got more in common with states to the north.
In one sign of the shift, lawmakers successfully petitioned to move from the Southern Region of the Council of State Governments to the Eastern Region, where they will be able to trade ideas with fellow officials from Pennsylvania, New York and other states they consider more like-minded.
"I just don't think we're as Southern as people used to think," said state Sen. Catherine Pugh, a Baltimore Democrat.
Recent attempts to update the state song, Maryland, My Maryland, written by a former Augusta resident, have failed. Maryland native James Ryder Randall's nine-stanza poem was adopted as the state song in 1939.
It was written in one night and is said to be inspired by a clash between federal troops and Baltimore residents during the Civil War.
Though Maryland was officially in the Union, President Lincoln had to send troops to occupy Baltimore to keep the state in line.
Maryland native James Ryder Randall, who wrote Maryland, My Maryland, was an editor at The Augusta Chronicle for 20 years. He lived in Augusta from 1864 until his death in 1908 and is honored by a marble statue erected in 1936 in front of Sacred Heart Cultural Center.
-- From staff reports
I hear the distant thunder-hum, Maryland!
The Old Line's bugle, fife, and drum, 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!
-- The ninth stanza of Maryland, My Maryland
James Ryder Randall is buried at Magnolia Cemetery
"Who cares about a silly song written by known slave owners?"
Who cares about silly rap songs written by known multimillionaires?
why is a multimillionaire rapper the counter to a rhyming slave owner? slavery wasn't a competition or a fight between black and white. it was a little more organized than that. rappers don't own white people and work them to death. and as ridiculous as that lopsidedness is, i bet we would hear a much louder outcry if a state song went rap rather than slavery-nostalgic.
I guess whistling Dixie would be an even bigger sin.
the seafood is good, but it's gross reaching through all the scum to get to it.
Well, Mary Ditz, if you read all of Justus' postings, you would understand exactly why I said it. And the regular posters understand, and if you don't, that's ok with me.
And, since Justus knows so much about James Ryder Randall and said he was a known slave owner, just how many slaves did he own? Because I can't find any record of him owning any.
In the 1850 census, he is at Georgetown College in Washington, DC. He is 12.
In the 1860 census, he is at Pointe Coupee, Louisiana
1860 census, Pointe Coupee, Louisiana
Basel Vanmalle 31 Schoolteacher
Julie Vanmalle 43
James R Randall 21 born in MD; Professor; personal property $0 real estate $0
1870 census, Augusta Ward 1, Richmond, Georgia
James R Randall 30 Editor of a newspaper Value of Pers. Estate $300
Kate Randall 27
Harriett Randall 4
Thos Hammond 19 Clerk in a grocery store
1880 Federal Census, Augusta, Richmond, GA
James R. Randall 41
Kate H. Randall 36
Hattie D. Randall 14
Marcus H. Randall 9
Ruth M. Randall 4
Maryland Randall 7M
Betsy Grant 42 mulatto domestic servant
He was a very famous man and his poetry was known all over the US. He was considered the most famous War poet of his time- and not just for "Maryland, My Maryland". When he died, notice of his death was printed in newspapers all over America, both North and South.
Gee, do you think that Justus could be INCORRECT about him being a "Known slave holder"?
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