Maryland lawmakers junk 'Northern scum' from state song
(Reuters) - Maryland's legislature moved to toss Civil War-era lyrics about "Northern scum" and other lines disparaging President Abraham Lincoln from the official state song on Thursday.
The state Senate voted 38-8 to revise the state song, with sponsors saying a modern-day Maryland needed more unifying lyrics to represent it.
The state song was based on a poem written by James Ryder Randall, "Maryland! My Maryland!," in 1861 when he was despondent about the shooting of a friend by Union troops in Baltimore.
The poem calls for Marylanders to fight for the Confederacy and was adapted by Southern soldiers as a battle hymn. It became the state song in 1939.
Lyrics include "Huzza! She spurns the Northern scum!" and refer to Lincoln as "despot" and "tyrant" and Union forces as vandals.
The revised version deletes several stanzas that include those references. It adds a verse from a 1894 poem by John White, called "Maryland, My Maryland," a work which celebrates the state's natural beauty.
The bill now goes to the House of Delegates.
(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by David Gregorio)
