The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is proud to be a National Audience Partner with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History for “Raise it Up! Anthem for America,” a global celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Star-Spangled Banner. The vision is for Americans across the country and around the world to stop and sing the national anthem at the same time, 4:00pm EDT, on Saturday, June 14. Add your voice to the largest group sing of the national anthem in history as we celebrate the bicentennial of the nation’s most iconic symbol: the Star-Spangled Banner.

Video recordings of performances uploaded onto Youtube with the hashtag #raiseitup will be counted towards an attempt at the world record for largest online video album! More information about the nation-wide event is available here. 

The Smithsonian will host a sing-a-long event in Washington, D.C., on its National Mall terrace, which will culminate in the “moment of national unity” at 4 p.m. Philadelphia is also home to a Star-Spangled Summer. 

Owing to our city’s incredible history and energy, we believe the communities of Philadelphia can create events and programs to make this a Star-Spangled Summer. We are very excited to hear your organization’s ideas, and we encourage you to participate in ways that reflect your individual interests and personality. If your organization has events planned for this summer that relate to Flag Day or the bicentennial of the Star-Spangled Banner, let us know! Please fill out our web form with your event's information, and we will promote it to our audiences and partners. If you have any questions, please contact Vincent Fraley. 

For our part, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania will display Francis Scott Key’s handwritten copy of the Star-Spangled Banner, one of only three in existence. This treasure will be available to view at HSP beginning June 10, as part of the document display “Our Flag Was Still There”.  

The National Constitution Center is celebrating the shared birthday of two of our country’s greatest institutions—the American flag and the U.S. Army—during Philadelphia’s Stripes and Stars Festival, also on Saturday, June 14, 2014. Events include flag raising ceremonies, giant flag folding demonstrations, a special exhibition on the history of the flag, and a naturalization ceremony. In connection with the Army’s 239th birthday, the festival will also feature appearances by the Army’s elite ceremonial units. Festival events will take place at locations throughout the nation’s most historic square mile—Independence National Historical Park and Historic Philadelphia, including Independence Hall, Betsy Ross House, and the National Constitution Center.

For a full schedule of events and event locations, visit constitutioncenter.org/stripesandstars. Twitter: @StripesStarsPHL. Facebook: facebook.com/StripesStarsPHL. Instagram: @StripesStarsPHL