Welcoming new U.S. citizens with musician José Feliciano and "The Star-Spangled Banner"

Smithsonian Collections

Video Title: Welcoming new U.S. citizens with musician José Feliciano and "The Star-Spangled Banner"
Description: During the 1968 World Series between the Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals, Puerto Rican guitarist, singer, songwriter, José Feliciano took center field to perform a soulful and folk-infused rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner. Political and social tensions had reached a fevered pitch in the fall of 1968, as the Vietnam War was generating a great deal of debate, and the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy earlier that year had left the country reeling. Jose Feliciano’s rendition of the National Anthem paved the way for artists like Jimmy Hendrix, Whitney Huston, and Lady Gaga to perform various versions of the Anthem. On June 14, 2018, 50 years after the iconic performance, José Feliciano donated objects reflecting his international career to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History during a naturalization ceremony in partnership with U.S Citizenship and Naturalization Services for 19 candidates for American citizenship from 16 countries. The National Museum of American History is home to the Star-Spangled Banner, the actual flag Francis Scott Key saw flying over Baltimore’s Fort McHenry in 1814 when he penned the words that would become the national anthem.
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Video Duration: 2 min 25 sec