In the con­text of the 1890s, when the U.S. faced a severe eco­nom­ic down­turn known as the Great Depres­sion, soci­etal unrest fueled grow­ing nativist sen­ti­ments and led to restric­tive immi­gra­tion laws, par­tic­u­lar­ly against Asian immi­grants. As cor­rup­tion peaked in Wash­ing­ton, Grover Cleve­land was reelect­ed pres­i­dent, promis­ing to root it out.

Amidst these chal­lenges, Chica­go pre­pared to host the World’s Columbian Expo­si­tion in 1893, cel­e­brat­ing Colum­bus, a fig­ure per­son­i­fied as “Colum­bia” — a female embod­i­ment of Amer­i­ca. The expo­si­tion, filled with extrav­a­gant dis­plays includ­ing a Lib­er­ty Bell made of oranges and a salt Stat­ue of Lib­er­ty, aimed to sig­nal to the world that Amer­i­ca was emerg­ing as a pow­er­ful nation wor­thy of recog­ni­tion.

The event also intro­duced the Pledge of Alle­giance writ­ten by Fran­cis Bel­lamy, which aimed to fos­ter loy­al­ty among new immi­grants toward Amer­i­ca amidst ris­ing xeno­pho­bia. Cleve­land’s inau­gur­al remarks at the fair high­light­ed the nation’s aspi­ra­tions for dig­ni­ty and free­dom, encap­su­lat­ed in a grand cer­e­mo­ny that fea­tured acoustic spec­ta­cles.

Bertha Palmer led the “Board of Lady Man­agers” at the Expo, advo­cat­ing for a space ded­i­cat­ed to women’s accom­plish­ments that would encour­age broad­er rights for women rather than main­tain­ing iso­lat­ed pedestals. Inside the Wom­en’s Build­ing, sig­nif­i­cant fig­ures in wom­en’s rights were hon­ored, while exhi­bi­tions show­cased dire work­ing con­di­tions women faced.

After their Chica­go trip, Katie and Katharine jour­neyed through Col­orado, where Katie expe­ri­enced a moment of divine inspi­ra­tion that led her to write a poem reflect­ing her awak­ened emo­tions about Amer­i­ca’s beau­ty and promise. Revis­it­ing her notes a year lat­er, she sub­mit­ted the poem to *The Con­gre­ga­tion­al­ist*, receiv­ing acco­lades and a small pay­ment of five dol­lars for its pub­li­ca­tion on July 4, 1895.

The poem gained immense pop­u­lar­i­ty, lead­ing to requests for a musi­cal adap­ta­tion. Clarence Bar­bour found a suit­able melody, “Mater­na,” com­posed by Samuel Ward, which was ini­tial­ly a hymn. Katie’s vers­es, set to this tune, became an anthem of Amer­i­can ideals, cul­mi­nat­ing in the beloved “Amer­i­ca the Beau­ti­ful.”

Through her lit­er­ary con­tri­bu­tions, par­tic­u­lar­ly amid the polit­i­cal and social tur­moil of her time, Katharine Lee Bates left an indeli­ble mark, cap­tur­ing the essence of Amer­i­can aspi­ra­tion and beau­ty in her work, which con­tin­ues to res­onate deeply with the Amer­i­can spir­it.