2026-07-05 19:58 UTC
A revised version of the poem was published in the Boston Evening Transcript in 1904, and yet another was included as the first poem in Bates’s 1912 book, America The Beautiful and other Poems » https://archive.org/details/americabeautiful00baterich/page/n5/mode/2up
The patriotic song United Statesians know as “America the Beautiful” was created by Boston publisher Oliver Dotson & Co. in 1910 who set Bates’s amended poem to 1882 hymn tune “Materna”, by New Jersey-based organist-choirmaster Samuel A. Ward. Bates and Ward never met.
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@aleciabatson@mastodon.social 2026-07-05 20:03
While preparing for today’s performance, the condition of the current United States was top-of-mind, and I wondered: When will equal rights for women, people of color, and LGBTQIA+ people exist? When will all indigenous peoples of these occupied lands be formally recognized? When will the minimum wage be a living wage? While I’m not sure any of these goals will be achieved during my lifetime, it’s important to work with hope towards justice and equality through incremental improvement.