Oh, Say, Can You See What the Star-Spangled Banner Means?

Francis Scott Key's song "The Star-Spangled Banner" did more than give the American flag a name; it changed the way Americans looked at their flag. In the early 1800s, Americans, like people in other countries, considered a national flag simply a military or naval emblem...
Today the flag is the primary symbol of American patriotism.

— Flag as Patriotic Symbol

Introduction

Prior to 1814, other American symbols were more prominent than the American flag. Early American gold coins, for example, featured the eagle and the "Liberty Cap." While the Liberty Cap is scarcely recognized today, the American flag has grown in importance. The flag became "the primary symbol of American patriotism" after Francis Scott Key's poetic account of the bombardment of Fort McHenry stirred a powerful sentiment in the American people.

Using archival documents and images, students will associate Key's words with historic events and recognize the sentiment those words inspired. In the second part of the unit, students will review the symbols within the flag and look at some historic images of the flag that have become part of our national consciousness.

Learning Objectives

Suggested Activities

Part I: The Star-Spangled Banner: A Flag, a Poem, a National Anthem

Lesson 1: Flag Sightings
Lesson 2: The Real Star-Spangled Banner
Lesson 3: The Star-Spangled Banner in Pictures and Words
Lesson 4: What Does It Mean?
Lesson 5: The Annotated Anthem

Lesson 6: Symbols in a Symbol: What Does the Flag Mean? A Mini-Lesson
Lesson 7: What Does the Flag Mean to You?
Lesson 8: Survey: What Does the Flag Mean to Americans?

Extending the Lesson

Part I
The Star-Spangled Banner: A Flag, a Poem, a National Anthem

Lesson 1 Flag Sightings

A few days before you begin the unit, challenge the students to look for the American flag everywhere. Tell them the class will be compiling a list of all of their flag sightings. Their sightings can include actual flags, images of flags and references to the flag.

Compile the class list of flag sightings. Follow with a discussion about the flag. Pose the following sorts of questions to the students: Why is the flag important in the military? Why did an American astronaut leave an American flag on the moon? Why do American athletes cry when they see the flag and hear the National Anthem played during the Olympics? Did anyone see any use of the flag he/she felt was inappropriate? And finally, why does the American flag symbolize pride for the United States?

Lesson 2 The Real Star-Spangled Banner

The Star-Spangled Banner was made by Mary Pickersgill for Fort McHenry. It originally measured 30 x 42 feet, about one-quarter the size of a basketball court, but a large portion of the flag is now missing. Each star is about two feet across.

This flag design became the official United States flag on May 1, 1795. With the addition of two stars for Vermont (admitted as the 14th state on March 4, 1791) and Kentucky (admitted as the 15th state on June 1, 1792), this flag was to last for 23 years. The five Presidents who served under this flag were George Washington (1789-1797), John Adams (1797-1801), Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809), James Madison (1809-1817) and James Monroe (1817-1825).

The 15-star, 15-stripe flag was authorized by the Flag Act of January 13, 1794, adding two stripes and two stars. The regulation went into effect on May 1, 1795. This flag was the only American flag to have more than 13 stripes. It was immortalized by Francis Scott Key during the bombardment of Fort McHenry, Sept 13, 1814 (see The 15-Star Flag, on The Flag of the United States of America, a link from the EDSITEment resource Internet Public Library).

The Star-Spangled Banner was likely damaged not only in the Battle of Baltimore but also by time, the actions of its owners and previous attempts to restore it.

Have students look at a recent photograph of the American flag from Fort McHenry, which inspired "The Star-Spangled Banner" and is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution, available online via a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed website Internet Public Library.

Why are so many people looking at the flag in the photograph? What do students notice about the condition of the flag? How many stars were there all together? What could have happened to the damaged star? What in the classroom can help us visualize the size of the stars in this flag, which are two feet across? How big does that make the whole flag? Why would a flag meant to fly at a fort be made so large? What may have caused the present condition of the flag? How can you tell?

Look at The Star-Spangled Banner, a 1913 portrait of Francis Scott Key reaching out toward the flag, available on the EDSITEment resource America's Library. This is the same flag as in the first photo. What's going on in the painting?

Identify the flag for the class as the Star-Spangled Banner. Lesson 3 will help students answer many of the questions posed in this lesson.

Lesson 3 The Star-Spangled Banner in Pictures and Words

Recite the first stanza of the National Anthem for the class. Tell students they will understand the difficult words better and learn more about the early history of the Star-Spangled Banner (flag and song) by analyzing some primary source materials.

Introduce the research questions the class will try to answer as they review the materials:

1. What happened on Tuesday, Sept. 13, and Wednesday, Sept. 14, 1814?
2. What in the first verse of the National Anthem refers to something that actually happened?
3. Which objects show how the poem "The Defense of Fort McHenry" by Francis Scott Key was being publicized?
4. Which objects indicate that Francis Scott Key's poem was popular? Why do you think the poem was so popular?
5. Did the song immediately become our National Anthem?
6. What caused the present condition of the flag known as the Star-Spangled Banner?
7. What indication is there that the bombardment of Fort McHenry and the subsequent events surrounding Key's poem are considered important today?

• An Artist's Rendering of the Bombardment on Fort McHenry, available via a link from Internet Public Library



• British bombshell (like those bursting in midair), available on The Star-Spangled Banner, a link from Internet Public Library



• First printed edition combining words and music (Baltimore: Thomas Carr, 1814 Printed sheet music), available on the Library of Congress website, a link from American Memory
  One of only ten copies known to exist, this copy of "The Star-Spangled Banner" is housed today in the Library of Congress.



• Fragment of the Fort McHenry flag, available on The Star-Spangled Banner, a link from Internet Public Library
  Certain people were granted the privilege of cutting fragments from the flag as souvenirs. "Indeed had we have given all we had been importuned for," Georgiana Appleton wrote, "little would be left to show." Owners of some of these historic fragments have given theirs to the Smithsonian.



• Images of Red Chevron, available on The Star-Spangled Banner, a link from Internet Public Library
  Louisa Armistead sewed the red chevron on one of the flag's white stripes. According to her daughter, she intended it to be the letter A, probably for "Armistead."



• The Star-Spangled Banner ... Written by F. Key, Esq., during the conflict between Fort M' Henry, and the British Fleet, in 1814. Swain typ. [181-], available on American Memory
  The full text of the Star-Spangled Banner on satin, a commercial product of the typographer, Swain. Note that this product was produced in 1814, the same year the poem was written.



• Francis Scott Key. "The Star-Spangled Banner." Washington, D.C., October 21, 1840. Holograph manuscript. Music Division, Library of Congress (65), available on the Library of Congress website, a link from American Memory
  Francis Scott Key (1779-1843) witnessed the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor on the night of September 13 and 14, 1814. Exhilarated by the successful defense of the fort, Key wrote the words that became in 1931 the National Anthem of the United States. Key wrote the poem in 1814; rewriting it by hand in 1840 indicates the ongoing popularity of the piece.



• The National Anthem was officially adopted in 1931. Before that time, others had attempted the writing of a National Anthem. An example from 1879 is available via a link from American Memory; an 1883 anthem, America: A National Anthem, is available on American Memory.



• Fourth of July Flag Image, available on Fort McHenry, a link from Internet Public Library

• Official Account of the Bombardment of Fort McHenry, available on The Star-Spangled Banner, a link from Internet Public Library



• Francis Scott Key's Original Manuscript, available on The Star-Spangled Banner, a link from Internet Public Library
  Complete version (transcript) of "The Star-Spangled Banner" showing spelling and punctuation from Francis Scott Key's manuscript in the Maryland Historical Society collection.



• First Known Printing of Key's Poem, available on The Star-Spangled Banner, a link from Internet Public Library



• Transcript of the First Printing of Key's Poem (broadside, probably printed in Baltimore on Sept. 17, 1814), available on The Star-Spangled Banner, a link from Internet Public Library



• Proclamation 2795 (Fort McHenry declared one of only two places where the American flag is allowed to fly, day and night), available on Fort McHenry, a link from Internet Public Library

Lesson 4 What Does It Mean?

Recite the words of the first stanza of the National Anthem with the class. Go through the stanza phrase by phrase. What does the class understand each to mean, or refer to, now?

Lesson 5 The Annotated Anthem

As a culminating activity, challenge the class, under your guidance, to use materials from Lesson 3 to create an annotated copy of the first stanza of "The Star-Spangled Banner." On large pieces of paper, display appropriate sections of the first-stanza lyrics. Ask students to select an image or document, or to design an image to illustrate the words on each page. Attach the appropriate image or document to each excerpt. Put a brief explanation (as suggested by students) at the bottom of each page. Technically savvy students could turn this product into a slide presentation using PowerPoint or HyperCard.

Part II
What Does the Flag Mean?

Lesson 6 Symbols in a Symbol: What Does the Flag Mean? A Mini-Lesson

A symbol stands for an idea. Over the years, a symbol tends to take on a meaning related to its history, function or appearance. Ideas can also be gradually transferred to an object over time. In this way, an object can take on new meanings. For example, when you see the Star-Spangled Banner, you may simply see a large flag, you might think about its history, or you may have personal feelings about the flag based on your own experiences. Over the course of our country's history, the flag has become more important as a symbol of our country, though each American can still endow it with a personal meaning.

The flag resonates with the symbols of its original design (colors, stars, stripes) and the meanings that have become associated with it since then. Review with your students the definition of a symbol. If desired, use the following activity, as described in the EDSITEment lesson The Statue of Liberty: The Meaning and Use of a Symbol:

Give students the opportunity to explore an interactive lesson on symbols, available on the EDSITEment-reviewed website The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Explore and Learn. If access to technology is limited, adapt the lesson for direct instruction by downloading and duplicating the image of one or both statues; then use the museum activity as a guide to your discussion.

Larger images of the statues referenced in this lesson are also available:
• Wooden statue of Fudô Myô-ô
• Mali: Statue of Mother and Child

Lesson 7 What Does the Flag Mean?

Share the following poem with the class. Consider reading it to the class during your usual story time. (Note: It is not necessary to identify all of the historical events mentioned in the poem, or to identify what is factually correct or incorrect in it, to discuss the author's intention. Though composed by a famous songwriter — Johnny Cash — this piece was written as a poem and is not available as a song.) This poem is also available from EDSITEment in PDF format (Download Adobe Acrobat Reader). You may wish to download the poem and make copies.

"Ragged Old Flag"
By Johnny Cash

I walked through a county courthouse square,
On a park bench an old man was sitting there.
I said, "Your old courthouse is kinda run down."
He said, "Naw, it'll do for our little town."
I said, "Your flagpole has leaned a little bit,
And that's a Ragged Old Flag you got hanging on it."

He said, "Have a seat," and I sat down.
"Is this the first time you've been to our little town?"
I said, "I think it is." He said, "I don't like to brag,
But we're kinda proud of that Ragged Old Flag.

"You see, we got a little hole in that flag there
When Washington took it across the Delaware.
And it got powder-burned the night Francis Scott Key
Sat watching it writing Oh, Say Can You See.
And it got a bad rip in New Orleans
With Packingham and Jackson tuggin' at its seams.

"And it almost fell at the Alamo
Beside the Texas flag, but she waved on through.
She got cut with a sword at Chancellorsville
And she got cut again at Shiloh Hill.
There was Robert E. Lee, Beauregard and Bragg,
And the south wind blew hard on that Ragged Old Flag.

"On Flanders Field in World War I
She got a big hole from a Bertha gun.
She turned blood red in World War II.
She hung limp and low by the time it was through.
She was in Korea and Vietnam.
She went where she was sent by her Uncle Sam.

"She waved from our ships upon the briny foam,
And now they've about quit waving her back here at home.
In her own good land she's been abused—
She's been burned, dishonored, denied and refused.

"And the government for which she stands
Is scandalized throughout the land.
And she's getting threadbare and wearing thin,
But she's in good shape for the shape she's in.
'Cause she's been through the fire before
And I believe she can take a whole lot more.

"So we raise her up every morning,
Take her down every night.
We don't let her touch the ground
And we fold her up right.
On second thought, I DO like to brag,
'Cause I'm mighty proud of that Ragged Old Flag."

"Ragged Old Flag" written by Johnny Cash, © 1974 (renewed) SONG OF CASH, INC. (ASCAP) / Administered by BUG MUSIC / All rights reserved. Used by Permission.

• Betsy Ross, Washington and the Flag, available on America's Library
  The flag as a symbol of our country's history.



• U.S. Marines raising the American flag over Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, in February 1945, available via a link from American Memory
  The flag as a symbol of the fight for freedom around the world.



• "Photograph of President Lyndon B. Johnson placing a wreath before the flag-draped casket of President John F. Kennedy, during funeral services for Kennedy in the Capitol rotunda," available on The Digital Classroom (Using the NAIL Expert Search, check the box "Only Descriptions Linked to Digital Copies" and search for the words "Johnson," "wreath" and "Kennedy.")
  The flag as a symbol of American heroes who died in service to our country.



• Flag on the Moon, available on Man on the Moon, a link from Internet Public Library
  The flag as a symbol of our country's technological achievements.



• Michael Johnson with American flag, available on the International Olympic Committee website, a link from Internet Public Library (click on the link to Michael Johnson's picture)
  The flag as a symbol of individual achievement by American heroes.

Lesson 8 A Survey: What Does the Flag Mean to Americans?

Now that the class has reacted to various images of the flag, students will attempt to determine if older Americans react in a similar way. What does the flag mean to their parents and/or other significant adults in their lives? During class discussion, have students prepare a few questions for a survey they will present to various adults, and decide which images to use (one or more of those from Lesson 6, or others that you or the students select). When the questions are ready, have students complete the survey with an assigned number of adults; provide a deadline when surveys should be completed.

After students have had a chance to give the survey, discuss the results. What are the similarities between adult and student reactions to the images? Differences? Is it possible to sharpen the definition of what the flag means to Americans in general or were reactions mostly individual?

Extending the Lesson