LIFT EVERY VOICE: A Most Stubborn Tale of our Most Enduring American Brand…

Ultimately, every brand is just a story we tell about a thing. The real magic begins once we believe in the tale. So, here’s the origin story of an ages-old American brand that we all know and love…

Once upon a time there was a lawyer who got caught up in a war. Unarmed he watched in horror as a portion of his home state got bombed to smithereens. He sat and wrote a poem about what he saw. Two things amazed him: One, his side’s flag never fell. In fact, it was the last thing standing amongst the smolder and rubble. In his mind this meant his side had won. Two, because his side won his way of life would endure. And this meant slavery could go on.

You see, this lawyer was also a unrepentant slaveowner. He believed in slavery with all his heart. He was convinced that the African people he and others bought and sold and abused and trafficked like animals, were just that—animals. His slaves reflected his impressive wealth and his manhood, the superiority of his people, the rightness of his deity and the innate infallible greatness of his country. And no one could take that away, not without a fight.

That’s why he included slavery in his poem. He crowed that the slave couldn’t escape now and would have to stay in their place till he and those like him decided otherwise.

But this lawyer didn’t stop at just a poem…

He spent much of his legal career arguing to not only keep slavery legal but to expand it nationwide. He championed slavery in Supreme Court cases (some of which were presided over by slave-owning court justices). He put out bounties on escaped slaves. He sued and prosecuted abolitionists. In his later (and sicker) years, he softened his views some, but when he died in 1843 at the age 63, he still owned eight slaves. (Wouldn’t even free them in his will.)

Shortly afterwards, we took that poem he wrote and set it to music. Called it “The Star-Spangled Banner.” It became so popular that in 1931, we declared it our national anthem. And if you don’t stand for it like we tell you to, then you’re not a real American. And we won’t let you be an NFL quarterback anymore.

So, on this #FlagDay in honor of the one and only Sir Francis Scott Key, here’s a great rendition of a decidedly non-racist anthem written by Mr. James Weldon Johnson—someone who actually liked Black people enough to not buy and sell us like chattel.

"Africans in America are a distinct and inferior race of people..."

—Francis Scott Key, 1801|

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