University Of Maryland Marching Band Takes State Song Off Playlist

COLLEGE PARK, MD - The University of Maryland marching band will no longer play the state song, officials announced Monday.

Traditionally, the Mighty Sound of Maryland marching band plays at every home football game for the Terrapins. Members perform a host of tunes, including the university's fight song and others, such as the state anthem, "Maryland, My Maryland."

Written by a Confederate sympathizer in Baltimore in 1861, the state song has been controversial for its opposition to the Union; for example, the last stanza says that Maryland "spurns the Northern scum!"

The Mighty Sound of Maryland is "suspending" its use of the song to determine whether it is "consistent with the values of our institution," a university spokeswoman told student-run newspaper The Diamondback. The band director, athletic department and university president reportedly made the decision to boycott the state song based on its historical context and lyrical content. (See the full lyrics at the end of the article.)

"The new academic year begins in fraught times," University of Maryland President Wallace D. Loh wrote to the campus on Monday, the first day of classes. "We are shocked and saddened by the tragic killings of Lt. Richard Collins III on our campus in May and of a peaceful protester in Charlottesville earlier this month."

Collins, who was about to graduate from Bowie State University, was visiting College Park on May 20 with friends when he was stabbed to death by a University of Maryland student who was a member of a racist Facebook group called "Alt-Reich Nation."

Both campuses in Bowie and College Park are holding a minute of silence for Collins on Aug. 30.

"Our country is divided. The brazen resurgence of white supremacist, neo-fascist, and other extreme ideologies are an affront to our democracy," Loh said. "As a campus community, we must respond to the scourge of bias, hate, and violence based on race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Then, we can begin to heal."

In addition to suspending the state song from the marching band's repertoire, the University of Maryland updated its policies for spectators at athletic events. The following are among the banned items, according to the newly revised fan code of conduct: "...items that display, depict or represent recognizable symbols and/or words, including nooses and swastikas, that incite, intimidate, or threaten members of the University of Maryland community."

A noose was found at a fraternity house at the University of Maryland in the spring, and swastikas had been used in on-campus vandalism in years past.

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The University of Maryland marching band is not alone in its questioning of "Maryland, My Maryland."

There have been pushes in Annapolis to change the state song, but the effort has not been fruitful.

The song is based on a poem called "Maryland, My Maryland," which Confederate sympathizer James Ryder Randall of Baltimore wrote to protest Union troops marching through the city during the Civil War in 1861.

Years after the state adopted it as its anthem in 1939, "Maryland, My Maryland" has been the subject of controversy due to its Confederate leanings.

Here are the lyrics to “Maryland, My Maryland,” from the state website:

The despot’s heel is on thy shore,
Maryland!
His torch is at thy temple door,
Maryland!
Avenge the patriotic gore
That flecked the streets of Baltimore,
And be the battle queen of yore,
Maryland! My Maryland!

Hark to an exiled son’s appeal,
Maryland!
My Mother State! to thee I kneel,
Maryland!
For life or death, for woe or weal,
Thy peerless chivalry reveal,
And gird thy beauteous limbs with steel,
Maryland! My Maryland!

Thou wilt not cower in the dust,
Maryland!
Thy beaming sword shall never rust,
Maryland!
Remember Carroll’s sacred trust,
Remember Howard’s warlike thrust,
And all thy slumberers with the just,
Maryland! My Maryland!

Come! ‘tis the red dawn of the day,

Maryland!
Come with thy panoplied array,
Maryland!
With Ringgold’s spirit for the fray,
With Watson’s blood at Monterey,
With fearless Lowe and dashing May,
Maryland! My Maryland!

Come! for thy shield is bright and strong,
Maryland!
Come! for thy dalliance does thee wrong,
Maryland!
Come to thine own anointed throng,
Stalking with Liberty along,
And sing thy dauntless slogan song,
Maryland! My Maryland!

Dear Mother! burst the tyrant’s chain,
Maryland!
Virginia should not call in vain,
Maryland!
She meets her sisters on the plain-
Sic semper! ‘tis the proud refrain
That baffles minions back amain,
Maryland!
Arise in majesty again,
Maryland! My Maryland!

I see the blush upon thy cheek,
Maryland!
For thou wast ever bravely meek,
Maryland!
But lo! there surges forth a shriek,
From hill to hill, from creek to creek,
Potomac calls to Chesapeake,
Maryland! My Maryland!

Thou wilt not yield the Vandal toll,
Maryland!
Thou wilt not crook to his control,
Maryland!
Better the fire upon thee roll, Better the shot, the blade, the bowl,
Than crucifixion of the Soul,
Maryland! My Maryland!

I hear the distant thunder-hum,
Maryland!
The Old Line 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!

Still picture of the Maryland marching band via Mighty Sound of Maryland/YouTube.