US state of Maryland retires pro-Confederacy state song
Washington (AFP) - The US state of Maryland on Tuesday retired the Civil War-era state song, whose lyrics lauded the pro-slavery South. "We're repealing the state song, which is a relic of the Confederacy," Maryland Governor Larry Hogan said at a signing ceremony. The song, "Maryland, My Maryland," was written during the 1861-65 Civil War by James Ryder Randall, a Southern sympathizer. The Democratic-controlled state legislature voted earlier this year to retire the song and Hogan, a moderate Republican, agreed, saying it was "clearly outdated and out of touch." The song, adopted as the Maryla...