More than a thousand local school kids gathered outside the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center Friday afternoon to participate in a nationwide singing of the Star-Spangled Banner.This is the third year for the national sing-a-long. Students learn about the words and the meaning of the flag before singing the Anthem's first stanza.
Freedom Center President Clarence G. Newsome says the event is a good way to help kids learn the importance of freedom "and how much of a responsibility we all have to make sure that it is preserved and shared."
The event was created by the American Public Education Foundation with a goal "to bring students together - as the world came together - on September 12, 2001."
National organizers were aiming for a million student participants nationwide.