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African American Military Units Of The Union Army In The Film Glory

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“Glory” is a war drama about one of the first African American military units of the Union Army, during the Civil War. More specifically, this film is about the 54th regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, told in the perspective of Col. Robert Shaw, the white commanding officer. Col. Shaw is an abolitionist who, along with Cabot Forbes, leads a group of ex slaves, servants and other black volunteers in the Union Army including runaway slave Trip, Shaw’s [educated] childhood friend Thomas, and a former grave digger Rawlins. Throughout the movie, these men face hardships from the racist Union Army and struggle to prove themselves worthy. After months of difficult training, issues with inadequate supplies and lower pay, the 54th regiment …show more content…

In the online text it states, “The commitment to the Civil War as a white man’s war was entrenched, and many white northerners opposed the initial attempts to enlist black troops,” (Hine, 11.4). This was shown in movie by numerous white people who made racist comments and opposed the 54th regiment because it was an African American regiment. The online text and the class lectures both described black men volunteering for the war, some even escaped slavery to volunteer. Though in the point of view of Shaw, this story is basically centered around these group of men who volunteered to enlist in the war. The online text actually mentions the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, which is what this film is based on. “…. free black men in the North enlisted in what would become the most famous black unit, the 54th Massachusetts Regiment,” (Hine, 11.4.4). Another parallel between the movie and the online text, is in the next section (Hine, 11.4.5), it talks about how black soldier had to confront discrimination. The white northerners did not accept the presence of black troops, and many only tolerated the troops because they preferred black men dying than white men. This section also mentions that black soldiers ended up receiving a lower pay, so the 54th Massachusetts Regiment refused to accept pay until it was equal, which was shown in the

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