July 4: “America the Beautiful” Published (1895)
Prayer Idea
Pray that people in the United States would take time to be grateful for what they have.
History Note
Katharine Lee Bates was born in 1859 in Massachusetts. She attended Wellesley College and became a professor of English literature there in 1885. After earning a master’s degree from Oxford University, Bates became head of the English department of Wellesley.
Bates took a trip in 1893. After visiting the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, she traveled to speak at the Colorado Summer School of Science, Philosophy, and Languages in Colorado Springs. While in the area, she went to the top of Pikes Peak. A poem began forming in her mind, which she wrote down back at her hotel.
“America” first appeared in the July 4, 1895, issue of The Congregationalist, a periodical published in Boston. Here are the original words:
O beautiful for halcyon skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!
O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife,
Who once and twice, for man’s avail,
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!
Several people set the poem to music, but the most commonly-used tune became “Materna,” composed by Samuel A. Ward in 1882. Bates made some tweaks to the words, and the words and music known today were published together in 1910 as “America the Beautiful”.
The song became extremely popular and Bates granted permission for people to reprint the words in church hymnals, song books, collections of poetry, and many periodicals.
Bates retired from teaching in 1925. She died in 1929.
This image of Katharine Lee Bates is courtesy the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America. The photo from the top of Pikes Peak is by Ian Howard_11 / Shutterstock.com.
Learn More
This video shows the U.S. Navy Band performing a jazzy version of the song in 2021.
Find other resources at Homeschool History.
