The Maryland Legislature recently repealed “Maryland, My Maryland” as the state song.^[1] This song, which was written by James Ryder Randall in 1861, contains language favorable to the Confederacy.^[2]

“Maryland, My Maryland” includes multiple derogatory references to the Union, such as the implication that Abraham Lincoln was a “tyrant” and references to Northerners as “scum.”^[3] Governor Larry Hogan signed the bill, calling the song “a relic of the Confederacy, which is clearly outdated and out of touch.”^[4]

The song was inspired by the Pratt Street Riot, where Confederate sympathizers attacked Union troops as they marched through Baltimore to Washington, D.C.^[5] This conflict occurred mere days after Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina’s Charleston Harbor, marking the beginning of the Civil War.^[6]

Maryland’s complicated history surrounding the Civil War seems to have been lost in time for many people. Maryland was both physically and financially caught between the Union and the Confederacy, as its economy was equally dependent on the North and South.^[7] After the Pratt Street Riot, which resulted in the deaths of sixteen soldiers and civilians, a special assembly on whether to secede was called in order to avoid more bloodshed.^[8] However, federal troops, fearing the consequences of having Washington, D.C. surrounded by Confederate states, arrested several pro-Confederacy members of the Maryland legislature.^[9]

Like the installation of many Confederate statues,^[10] “Maryland, My Maryland” was not adopted as the state song during the Civil War.^[11] Rather, it was put in place in the 1930s, during the Jim Crow Era.^[12] This happened to coincide with the NAACP’s protests in Baltimore against police violence and “for national anti-lynching legislation.”^[13] One has to wonder if, like the erection of the Confederate statues, the song was used in part as a counter-protest to the growing social movement.

By passing this bill and repealing “Maryland, My Maryland,” Maryland takes a stand against the revisionist history seen across the United States today regarding the Confederacy. Maryland rejects the ahistorical argument that the Confederacy was not about maintaining slavery and that songs, flags, and statues that support the Confederacy are simply heritage. Repealing our state song was long overdue.

Kevin Beins is a third-year day student at the University of Baltimore School of Law. He graduated from Franklin and Marshall College with a B.S. in Government in May 2018. During his time at UB, Kevin has been involved in Law Forum as a Staff Editor and the Business and Tax Law Association as the Vice President. He spent his Fall 2021 semester interning for the Honorable John M. Maloney in the Montgomery County Circuit Court and will participate in the Saul Ewing Civil Advocacy Clinic next semester. Kevin will be graduating in May 2022. He will be clerking for the Honorable Richard R. Titus in the Carroll County Circuit Court during the 2022-2023 term.

[1] H.B. 667, 2021 leg., 442nd sess. (Md. 2021).

[2] Id.

[3] Id.

[4] Randi Bass, Maryland officially repeals state song, WDMV (May 19, 2021) https://www.localdvm.com/news/maryland/maryland-officially-repeals-state-song/.

[5] Scott Neuman, Maryland Repeals State Song That Called Lincoln A ‘Tyrant’, NPR (May 20, 2021) https://www.npr.org/2021/05/20/983057655/maryland-repeals-state-song-that-called-lincoln-a-tyrant.

[6] Id.

[7] Nancy Bramucci, Arrest of the Maryland Legislature, 1861, Teaching American History in Maryland (last visited on Nov. 16, 2021) https://web.archive.org/web/20080111110628/http://teachingamericanhistorymd.net/000001/000000/000017/html/t17.html.

[8] Id.

[9] Maryland in the Civil War, American Civil War (Aug. 22, 2013) http://americancivilwarinstitute.blogspot.com/2013/08/maryland-in-civil-war.html.

[10] Neydin Milián, TALBOT CONFEDERATE STATUE: A RACIST HISTORY White Supremacy Cannot Be Celebrated, ACLU (June 24, 2021) https://www.aclu-md.org/en/news/talbot-confederate-statue-racist-history.

[11] Gio Insignares, Advocates push to change Maryland state song after 81 years, WUSA (June 25, 2020) https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/maryland/push-to-change-maryland-state-song/65-357b8827-1406-47a5-96fa-0506c4d22ab1.

[12] Id.

[13] 1930-1965: The Great Depression and World War II, Baltimore’s Civil Rights Heritage (last visited Nov. 16, 2021) https://baltimoreheritage.github.io/civil-rights-heritage/1930-1965/.