A plan to change the state song passed the state Senate Thursday. The plan retains the tune and one verse of the current song in an effort to remove controversial references to the Confederacy of the Civil War.
The third verse of composer James Ryder Randall’s “Maryland, My Maryland” would stay:
Thou wilt not cower in the dust,
Maryland, my Maryland!
Thy beaming sword shall never rust,
Maryland, my Maryland!
Remember Carroll's sacred trust,
Remember Howard's warlike thrust,
All thy slumberers with the just,
Maryland, my Maryland!
Then legislators added a verse from John T. White’s 1894 poem, also called “Maryland, My Maryland,” which celebrates the state’s natural beauty.
“This bill is an excellent compromise … so that our children and our children’s children and so that all Maryland can be proud of our state song,” said Senate President Mike Miller. “At the present time, all Maryland cannot be proud of our state song.”
But Sen. Robert Cassilly, a Republican from Harford County, defended the song as patriotic.
“Our song celebrates the courage of people who were willing to stand up and fight for what they believed in,” he said.
He advocated keeping the song to inspire Marylanders.