“America the Beautiful” by Katharine Lee Bates

Katharine Lee Bates, a lesbian, Christian socialist and professor from Boston, wrote the original poem to the song “America the Beautiful” in 1893. Her book, “America the Beautiful and Other Poems,” railed against U.S. imperialism in the Philippines, according to the Los Angeles Times, and she was a part of reform groups around labor rights, urban slums and women’s suffrage in Boston. We Own the Future points to one of Bates’ lines as an appeal for social justice: “And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.” But other lines stand out as well, such as this one about using material wealth for the common good, according to NPR: “May God thy gold refine, Till all success be nobleness, And every gain divine”