December 30th, 2020 by WCBC Radio
After decades of debate, legislators are finally sensing strong support for repealing Maryland's state song, a Civil War-era call to arms for the Confederacy against “Northern scum” that refers to President Abraham Lincoln as a despot. “Maryland, My Maryland” was written as a poem in 1861 by James Ryder Randall and adopted as the state song in 1939. Lawmakers have tried to replace it since 1974. This year's nationwide protests against racial injustice may have made the difference. House Speaker Adrienne Jones, who became the first Black person and first woman to hold the leadership post last year, said this week that “Confederate-sympathizing language is not representative of who we are as a state any longer." Senator Cheryl Kagan, a Montgomery County Democrat, has sponsored previous measures targeting the song, and is trying again…
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