HIS REMARKABLE LIFE AFTER THE SONG

You heard the story so many times growing up, you can recite it by memory. How Francis Scott Key was detained on a boat by the British as they attacked Fort McHenry outside Baltimore. How he couldn’t tell during the dark night whether the Americans inside the fort had given up. How when dawn revealed the American flag still flying, he was so inspired he wrote a poem whose words became “The Star Spangled Banner,” our national anthem.

And it’s all true. But then, as soon as Key’s poem was published, he vanished from history as abruptly as he appeared. Which is a shame, according to Key scholar and filmmaker Philip Marshall. “Americans need to know that Key made a huge contribution to the American story, that he was also flawed and a real person just like anyone else.” Continue reading →