Glory Review

The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was a significant event because this was the first formal unit of the United State Army to be made up entirely of Black, or African American men. Over 180,000 African American men served in the Union army of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry and were led by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. Another person that had influenced the blacks to join the union army was an ex-slave named Frederick Douglass. After Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation, many African American men had their hearts in the war against slavery which the Civil War had become of due to the Emancipation Proclamation. The movie Glory historically captures and reenacts the moments from what had happened from the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Glory was a movie that was filmed in 1989 where it written by Kevin Jarre and was based on the personal letters of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. Glory was mainly about the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, which was the first actual US Army that is compromised of only African American men. Colonel Robert Gould Shaw was the commanding officer during the American Civil War. He was also the son of an influential abolitionist. Also Glory portrayed many African American who had volunteered for the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Sometimes movies portray history inaccurately; however, with the movie Glory, Glory mostly accurately portrays the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. The dates and the places that were stated or used throughout the movie were accurate. Right away in the beginning of the movie, the Battle of Antietam was portrayed. The Battle of Antietam was mainly about a draw militarily. Because of the Battle of Antietam, Abraham Lincoln who was the president at that time, decided to launch the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation that was issued by Abraham Lincoln was mentioned several times in the beginning of the movie where Robert Gould Shaw was reading the Emancipation Proclamation to the generals. “Any negroes taken in arms against the Confederacy will immediately be turn into a state of slavery. Any negroes taken in federal uniform will be severely put to death,” said by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. The next morning of the movie, which Glory had portrayed so well was that over 180,000 men stayed and wanted to continue to fight in the Civil War. This was mainly known as the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Through these different accuracies in the movie, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was portrayed mainly correctly. Even movies that can be accurate can also have several inaccuracies where some can be minor and some could be major. With the movie Glory, there were some inaccuracies. One inaccuracy that I had found was that Robert Gould Shaw was not Governor Andrew’s first choice to command the regiment. Another thing that caught my attention that was a minor flaw from the movie was that when the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was marching, Trip, the Sergeant African American man, was talking to a bunch of kids and the kids were waving goodbye, one of the kid had a wristwatch, which seemed very unlikely for Black kids to have back then. Another thing that Glory portrayed so well but was unfortunately inaccurate was that majority of the African American men was uneducated or as the actors in Glory would like to say “delinquents.”Also the movie showed that the African American men were runaway slaves. The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was actually consisted of educated, middle – class Northern blacks. The movie Glory was a great movie that helped depict the special event of 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Although Glory had some inaccuracies that were some minor, however, the movie had much accuracy that had helped us visualize how the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.