Star Spangled #Bicentennial

09/14/1814 Francis Scott Key pens poem that later becomes our #NationalAnthem

Two hundred years ago last Sunday, on September 14, 1814, U.S. soldiers at Baltimore’s Fort McHenry raised a huge American flag to celebrate a crucial victory over British forces during the War of 1812. The sight of those “broad stripes and bright stars” inspired Francis Scott Key to write a song that eventually became the United States national anthem. Key’s words gave new significance to a national symbol and started a tradition through which generations of Americans have invested the flag with their own meanings and memories.

• Star Spangled Banner - Smithsonian Museum of American History
  
• First Printed Edition
  
• The Story Behind the Song
  
• Activity: Interactive Flag
  

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