Delegates Push to Repeal State Song, With its References to ‘Northern Scum’

Maryland Speaker Pro Tem Sheree Sample-Hughes grew up singing in the American Legion junior girls auxiliary. She used to sing the state’s song, “Maryland, My Maryland,” at events throughout the state. “Now I have a greater appreciation for what the lyrics truly mean,” Sample-Hughes (D-Lower Shore), told her colleagues Wednesday as she pressed for the song’s repeal as a state symbol. The song, which was composed during the Civil War by a Confederate sympathizer, James Ryder Randall, has enjoyed its status as a state symbol since 1939.