Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA
A film by John de Graaf
Available for educational use: bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/froms.html
“America The Beautiful” may be America’s most beloved song. Its words are found in nearly every hymn book in the country. It’s much easier to sing than The Star-Spangled Banner, much more welcoming, much less militaristic. There have been numerous proposals to make it our national anthem, most notably by music legend Ray Charles. It celebrates our natural beauty and makes a powerful appeal for justice, brotherhood and inclusion. It has been sung at inaugurations, demonstrations, and sporting events like the Indianapolis 500 and others, in operatic, folk, country and other styles.
But few know about the fascinating life of Katharine Lee Bates; the woman who wrote the song. Her story should not be forgotten, nor its context. The first words of her poem “America” (later set to music and called “America the Beautiful”) came to Bates as she surveyed the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains from the broad summit of Colorado's Pike's Peak on July 22, 1893. It is a tale that does not ignore the fact that the United States has often not lived up to its promises and ideals, yet it honors the unbroken chain of Americans who, honoring those ideals and loving their country deeply, strived to make it all it can be.
FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA
A film by John de Graaf
Available for educational use: bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/froms.html
“America The Beautiful” may be America’s most beloved song. Its words are found in nearly every hymn book in the country. It’s much easier to sing than The Star-Spangled Banner, much more welcoming, much less militaristic. There have been numerous proposals to make it our national anthem, most notably by music legend Ray Charles. It celebrates our natural beauty and makes a powerful appeal for justice, brotherhood and inclusion. It has been sung at inaugurations, demonstrations, and sporting events like the Indianapolis 500 and others, in operatic, folk, country and other styles.
But few know about the fascinating life of Katharine Lee Bates; the woman who wrote the song. Her story should not be forgotten, nor its context. The first words of her poem “America” (later set to music and called “America the Beautiful”) came to Bates as she surveyed the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains from the broad summit of Colorado's Pike's Peak on July 22, 1893. It is a tale that does not ignore the fact that the United States has often not lived up to its promises and ideals, yet it honors the unbroken chain of Americans who, honoring those ideals and loving their country deeply, strived to make it all it can be.
