My Old Kentucky Home

"My Old Kentucky Home, Good-Night!", usually referred to in popular culture as "My Old Kentucky Home," is an anti-slavery ballad written by Stephen Foster, probably composed in 1852.It was published in January 1853 by Firth, Pond, & Co. of New York City. Foster was likely inspired by Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, with imagery witnessed on his visits to the Bardstown, Kentucky farm called Federal Hill. Frederick Douglass wrote in his 1855 autobiography My Bondage and My Freedom that the song "awakens sympathies for the slave, in which antislavery principles take root, grow, and flourish". In 1928, the song became the official state song of Kentucky; in 1986, revised lyrics were adopted to eliminate culturally insensitive colloquialisms such as "darkies".

My Old Kentucky Home in Southern Victory
In 1916, a ceremony was held in Philadelphia to welcome Kentucky back into the United States after its 54 years as a Confederate State. President Theodore Roosevelt bearhugged Kentucky Lieutenant Governor Davis Lee Vidals and Kentucky State Police Chief Luther Bliss while the band played "The Star-Spangled Banner" and then switched to "My Old Kentucky Home". President Roosevelt proclaimed "Welcome back, prodigal sons! A new star joins the flag, a new star shines in the firmament!"