The poet who wrote the words to “America the Beautiful”, Katharine Lee Bates, was born into a modest Massachusetts family in 1859, the youngest of five siblings. Her father died when she was a baby. At that time, boys were more likely to get an education than girls. But her brothers worked so that she could attend school. At the age of 26, Katharine became an English teacher at Wellesley College. He also taught Shakespeare and wrote poetry.
In June 1893, Katharine boarded a train to teach for a summer at Colorado College. The trip included glorious Niagara Falls, the Chicago World’s Fair, the amber waves of Kansas grain, and the majestic purple mountains in Colorado Springs.
Katharine recalls, “One day some of the other teachers and I decided to take a trip to 14,000-foot Pikes Peak. We hired a prairie wagon. Near the top, we had to leave the wagon and go the rest of the way on mules. . I was very tired. But when I saw the view, I felt great joy. All the wonder of America seemed to show itself there, with the expanse like the sea. “
Like today, the United States in the late 1800s was politically divided. Land use issues, immigration, racial tension, and economic inequality divide the nation. Although the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1870, ensured that people could not be denied the right to vote because of their race, women could not vote for another 50 years.
Then came the Panic of 1893 – the depression lasted four years. It affected all sectors of the economy: Wall Street brokerages collapsed; more than 600 banks and 16,000 companies went bankrupt; unemployment reached 20% and thousands of farmers lost their land.
The political and economic climate was bleak when Katharine Lee Bates reached the top of Pikes Peak. Yet inspired by the beauty from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains, she wrote the first draft of her iconic poem, “America the Beautiful.” He saw his country battered but “intact by human tears” and prayed that God would “crown your good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.”
He wrote about the beauty of the land and brotherly love. He recognized the pilgrims’ march for freedom and the sacrifice of patriots for the homeland. His poem pointed out the need for self-control and the law: “Confirm your soul in self-control, Your freedom in law!” Looking forward, he saw the need for God’s help and grace: “America! America! God correct all your flaws … God poured out his grace on you.”
Have things changed since Katharine wrote those sentences? Some cities are dingy, not shiny. Our people are divided, freedoms in jeopardy, and government inflated. Our national origin is painted evil, our history distorted, our memorials destroyed, and our three branches of government and founding documents hang by a thread. In fact, “all defects” have not been corrected.
Yet every time we hear the chords of “America the Beautiful,” we sing and pray together: “America! America! God has showered his grace on you.” God answers our prayers. America is still beautiful, magnificent in many ways.
Like Katharine Lee Bates, I choose to see beauty in America and honor this great nation. So, in each successive column, I’ll look at the good we’ve done, the progress we’ve made, and the flaws we’ve fixed. I will highlight the “patriot dream that sees beyond the years” and celebrate what makes America beautiful.
