Museum hosting film about 'America the Beautiful' author

Children learn to sing it in school. 

Many people have thought it should be the U.S. national anthem. The author of the poem, Katharine Lee Bates called it a “hymn.” 

And singer Brandi Carlile said, “It’s more of a prayer than a boast.” You know we’re talking about the song, “America the Beautiful".

The Bonner County Historical Society and Museum is presenting “From Sea to Shining Sea”, a film that tells the story of Bates’ fascinating life that went far beyond writing poetry. The film will be shown at the East Bonner County Library, 1407 Cedar St., on Thursday, April 2. A social hour reception will be held at 4:30 p.m. with the film at 5:10 p.m., and a question-and-answer period with director, John DeGraaf to follow at 5:50 p.m.

Bates lived from 1859 to 1929. She was a full professor of literature at Wellesley College in a day when women rarely achieved academic standing. She was also a social activist who wrote extensively in many publications of the day about the need for social reform. Although she probably wouldn’t like the label, she might be described as a feminist who championed the rights of immigrants, poor people and people of color.

Her biography tells how she loved to travel and that it was a trip by prairie wagon to Pikes Peak in 1893 that inspired the poem that would become “America the Beautiful.” “The opening lines of the hymn floated into my mind,” she wrote in her notebook. “For purple mountain majesties, above the fruited plain. …”

The event is free to the public.