Francis Scott Key (Robbie Readers)

What's So Great About...?

by Marylou Morano Kjelle

On a September morning in 1812, an eyewitness to the British bombing of Ft. McHenry scribbled a poem about the American flag on the back of an envelop. The eyewitness was Francis Scott Key, a well-known Washington D.C. poet and lawyer. The sight of the American Flag waving through the battle told Key that the Americans were holding strong, and stirred Key to put the pride he felt into the words of a poem. These words became “The Star-Spangled Banner,” our national anthem. Today every American knows Key’s words and sings them proudly at official proceedings and before sports events. Key went on to create an African republic where former slaves could live in freedom. He helped President Andrew Jackson settle differences between Native Americans and settlers in Alabama, and he was made District Attorney for Washington D.C. But it is for “The Star-Spangled Banner” that he is most remembered. Here is the story of the man who was the first to call the fledging United ! States of America the “land of the free and the home of the brave.”

32 pages, Library Binding

First published June 15, 2006