{"id":99482,"date":"2024-07-02T08:44:27","date_gmt":"2024-07-02T12:44:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=99482"},"modified":"2024-07-24T10:44:23","modified_gmt":"2024-07-24T14:44:23","slug":"my-country-tis-of-thee-a-song-birthed-on-july-4th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/my-country-tis-of-thee-a-song-birthed-on-july-4th.html","title":{"rendered":"\u2018My Country, \u2019Tis of Thee,\u2019 a Song Birthed on July 4th"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article \u2013 to celebrate the upcoming Fourth of July holiday \u2013 Jane Hampton Cook tells the story of America\u2019s national hymn: \u201cMy Country, \u2019Tis of Thee.\u201d Jane is a presidential historian and author of My Country \u2019Tis of Thee<\/a> for children. Her works can be found at Janecook.com<\/a>. She is also the host of Red, White, Blue and You<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

I recently used GenealogyBank.com<\/a> to help write a new children\u2019s book about the song \u201cMy Country, \u2019Tis of Thee\u201d as part of a series called \u201cRevolutionary Readers for America\u2019s 250th Birthday.\u201d GenealogyBank delivered a wealth of information about this favorite patriotic hymn.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Park Street Church, Boston, Massachusetts. Credit: Farragutful; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Samuel F. Smith wrote the lyrics to \u201cMy Country, \u2019Tis of Thee\u201d and arranged for children at Park Street Church in Boston to sing the song, which he initially called \u201cAmerica,\u201d for the first time on 4 July 1831. Minister and author Edward Everett Hale had fond memories of witnessing that performance. Hale was the grand-nephew of American hero Nathan Hale, a spy who was captured and hung by the British military in 1776 during the American Revolution. At age 78, Edward Hale reflected on his childhood memory of witnessing the first performance of \u201cAmerica.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"America's<\/a>
Times (Richmond, Virginia), 1 July 1900, page 17<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article reports:<\/p>\n

Dr. Edward Everett Hale has said that, of all Fourths of July in Boston, that of 1833 [1831] left the deepest mark in the history of the century. He said he had spent his last cent and bought medals, drunk root beer, eaten oysters and other things, and was slowly returning home when at Park Street Church he saw a procession of children entering. They were Sunday school children. It was then and there that the hymn, My Country, \u2019Tis of Thee, was sung, the first time it had ever been sung in public. Happy fate that this hymn of the nation was consecrated on the national birthday!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

By 1865, \u201cMy Country, \u2019Tis of Thee\u201d had become such a popular hymn that Americans in both the North and the South turned to this song for healing after the Civil War.<\/p>\n

\"America's<\/a>
Boston Recorder (Boston, Massachusetts), 24 November 1865, page 186<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article reports that at a Juvenile Mass Meeting in New York:<\/p>\n

Horace Waters [hymn publisher] led these three thousand children [in] singing \u201cMy Country, \u2019Tis of Thee\u201d with great effect.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thousands of children also gathered in Tennessee that year to sing this song.<\/p>\n

\"America's<\/a>
Salem Register (Salem, Massachusetts), 16 November 1865, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article reports from a recent letter received from a correspondent in Nashville:<\/p>\n

\u201cToday has witnessed one of the most cheering scenes that ever took place in our Capitol since its erection \u2013 two thousand children from our free schools assembled in the Representatives\u2019 Hall, and as with one voice singing \u2018America,\u2019 \u2018My Country, \u2019Tis of Thee\u2019 &c. Think of it! Look back four short years, and in this very Hall the spirit of Rebellion ruled omnipotent. Where is the spirit that rode triumphantly on the storm of that dark hour? Gone forever, a wretched, homeless thing, the scorn of civilized man. Its dirge was sung today by upwards of two thousand youthful voices, whose tones must have reached the Eternal Throne.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cMy Country, \u2019Tis of Thee\u201d became a song that immigrants turned to when they became U.S. citizens. At a new citizens ceremony in San Diego in 1917, one of the speakers quoted this song as he discussed America\u2019s role in World War I.<\/p>\n

\"America's<\/a>
San Diego Union (San Diego, California), 5 July 1917, page 14<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article reports the speaker\u2019s words:<\/p>\n

\u201cNever before in our country\u2019s life have our people had such cause for thanksgiving, pride and gratification as in this hour, when our resources, man and economic, naval and military, when the heart and soul of our beloved nation is pledged in the cause of the brotherhood of nations in a world democracy.<\/p>\n

\u2018My country, \u2019tis of thee,
\nSweet land of liberty,
\nOf thee I sing,\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cMy Country, \u2019Tis of Thee\u201d was also sung to bring attention to civil rights for black Americans in New York, such as Broadway singer Canada Lee\u2019s appearance at a civil rights rally in 1945.<\/p>\n

\"America's<\/a>
People\u2019s Voice (New York, New York), 30 June 1945, page 25<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This gossip column reports:<\/p>\n

Canada Lee hit the high spot of his dramatic career with his closing interpretation of \u201cMy Country, \u2019Tis of Thee,\u201d etc., at the Negro Freedom Rally Monday night.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Less than two decades later in 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. gave his most famous speech, \u201cI Have a Dream,\u201d in Washington, D.C. His use of the phrase \u201cLet Freedom Ring\u201d from \u201cMy Country, \u2019Tis of Thee\u201d was powerful. The Oakland Tribune<\/em> ran the headline \u201cKing\u2019s Plea \u2013 \u2018Let Freedom Ring.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California), 29 August 1963, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article gives the reporter\u2019s first-person account of hearing Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s speech that day:<\/p>\n

\u201cKing went on saying, \u2018I have a dream.\u2019 Even in the red hills of Georgia, he said, black and white will sit down together at the table of brotherhood. \u2018I have a dream.\u2019 Even in Mississippi, he said, this will come to pass. \u2018I have a dream. Yes, one day.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd King\u2019s voice went on. He recited \u2018My Country, \u2019Tis of Thee\u2019 almost in a sing-song, then took up the final phrase, \u2018Let Freedom Ring.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom every hill and mount in the country, he said, \u2018let freedom ring.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom Stone Mountain, Georgia, \u2018let freedom ring.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, \u2018let freedom ring.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cEach time he said it, it was like the tolling of a bell.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

With all this history, it\u2019s no wonder that \u201cMy Country, \u2019Tis of Thee\u201d was a favorite song for America\u2019s 200th birthday in 1976. Because July 4 fell on a Sunday that year, churches throughout the nation celebrated America\u2019s Bicentennial with music, including \u201cMy Country, \u2019Tis of Thee.\u201d<\/p>\n

The leaders of Park Street Church also held a special service on July 4, 1976. They reenacted the first time the song was sung there in 1831.<\/p>\n

\"America's<\/a>
Patriot Ledger (Quincy, Massachusetts), 2 July 1976, page 5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article reports:<\/p>\n

The original singing of \u201cAmerica\u201d at Park Street Church on Boston Common by a group of children on Independence Day, 1831, will be reenacted by the church\u2019s Junior Choir, attired in colonial costume and directed by Sonja Pryor, in an outdoor Bicentennial ceremony on the steps of the church at 10 a.m. Sunday.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The article noted that the famous organist, Lowell Mason, had directed the first rendition in 1831. Mason was known as the father of church music in America. Samuel Francis Smith, a Harvard College graduate, wrote the song\u2019s five verses.<\/p>\n

Time and again, GenealogyBank.com<\/a> has proven to be an indispensable research tool. The ability to search by keyword with phrases such as \u201cMy Country, \u2019Tis of Thee\u201d enables us to better understand our nation\u2019s past. In this case, we can see that Americans frequently turned to \u201cMy Country, \u2019Tis of Thee\u201d as a way to express their love of country under a variety of circumstances, from its childlike beginning to the nation\u2019s Bicentennial and from the Civil War to the civil rights movement in the 1960s.<\/p>\n

Have fun celebrating the Fourth of July with family and friends!<\/p>\n

Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! Start a 7-Day Free Trial<\/a><\/p>\n

Note on the header image:<\/em><\/strong> Fourth of July fireworks over the East Village of New York City. Credit: David Shankbone; Wikimedia Commons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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