It’s a song every American has heard countless times, but how much do you really know about our national anthem?

“The Star-Spangled Banner is a symbol of American history that ranks with the Statue of Liberty and the Charters of Freedom,” said Brent D. Glass, the museum’s then-director, in 2007.

“The Star-Spangled Banner” was composed by Francis Scott ... again be called upon to infuse a racial consciousness into the symbols of America.

When lawyer and poet Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics to “The Star-Spangled Banner” in 1814, he was trying to heal a divided nation and encourage all Americans to rise above party politics.

After almost two centuries, the flag's frail state became plain. The icon's new high-tech home will protect it from exposure to bright light, humidity and ambient pollution. Smithsonian ...

University of Michigan musicology and American culture professor Mark Clague talked about the history of The Star-Spangled Banner and how he describes it as a living document. The Star-Spangled ...

First and most obvious, the Star Spangled Banner is a song composed with a fairly extensive vocal range. When performed in the key of ‘B flat’, the melodic range of the song is from a ‘B ...

Singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" in the atrium is an annual tradition ... a unifying song, a unifying symbol that everybody's familiar with," she said. Contact reporter Killian Baarlaer at ...

Boiled down to its essence, "The Star-Spangled Banner" is a song about survival and resilience, about bravery and hope. The first stanza of Francis Scott Key's 1814 poem, as sung by generations of ...

The actual flag Key saw — the Star-Spangled Banner — is now housed in a climate ... Today, the flag stands as an enduring symbol of democracy. "If you look at how fragile the flag is ...

“The Star-Spangled Banner” wasn’t actually adopted as ... and “dawn” and “light” become symbols – a sense of beaconing and lightness – of hope, goodness and optimism.

“The Star-Spangled Banner” was composed by Francis Scott ... again be called upon to infuse a racial consciousness into the symbols of America.