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Analysis Of 'The Colored Soldiers' By Paul Dunbar

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After the abolishment of slavery, the American Civil War broke out, which Paul Dunbar wrote about to model the fight for equality for African Americans. Dunbar utilized a key individual to write by the name of Robert Gould Shaw, an American soldier in the Union Army during the Civil War. He served as the commander of the first-all black regiment, 54th Massachusetts, where he encouraged blacks to refuse pay until the standards for all had reached. The meaning of war for African Americans exhibited a “hot tear of a hopeless fight” (“Robert Gould Shaw” 11) as a result of battle much larger than the war implied. Instead, it implied a disturbance in ignoring color barriers, but rather noticing a person for who he or she actually embodied. “Dunbar …show more content…

If blacks willingingly took a bullet to help shape the nation, then when returning to society should mean that everyone appeared as equal. However, that did not occur even when “they were comrades then and brothers” (“The Colored Soldiers” 57). The soldiers in combat did not care about the colors of black and white due to focusing on the large picture of an united nation. Blacks demanded a call for change and even stepped up to display “they were citizens and soldiers/when rebellion raised its head” (“The Colored Soldiers” 61-62). African Americans made similar sacrifices as other soldiers, yet still experienced backlash along the way. “They have slept and marched and suffered/’neath the same dark skies as you” (“The Colored Soldiers” 69-70) to prove blacks encounter experiences like fellow comrades. Dunbar went out of his way to demonstrate the unification while engaging in war, but hinted at the damage of segregation that tears the nation apart. With a comment such as “the Blacks enjoy their freedom/and they won it dearly, too” (49-50) from “The Colored Soldiers,” Dunbar presented an united front when emphasizing the ability to reach justice during the Civil War, but the optimistic thought of civil rights when applied to the current

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