Roger’s Roundup
In 1989 I was in training at Fort Gordon, Ga., during my unsuccessful foray into the United States Army Reserve. When I say, “unsuccessful,” I did graduate from basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C., and from Signal Corps training at Fort Gordon.
I actually did okay while I was on active duty, but when I went back to college, I lost all motivation for everything other than hanging out with my friends, playing games, eating and sleeping. That included going to class and going to Reserve drills.
One of the bright spots during that time was the movie Glory, starring Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes and Morgan Freemen.
Glory tells the tale of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, which was among the first Black combat units in the United States military. Black Americans, whether former slaves or free northerners, joined the Union Army, risking their lives to help free others still languishing under the yoke of slavery.
In the movie, Broderick plays the role of Col. Robert Gould Shaw, commanding officer of the 54th. Throughout the film’s two hours, we see Shaw have a man flogged for being “away without leave,” a potent scene that explores the fraught image of a white man ordering the whipping of Black man — albeit in the context of the 19th Century military. But we also see Shaw fight to obtain adequate clothing, provisions and wages for his men. We see him gain their respect and love, and we see them die together as brothers in arms despite the color of their skin.
The mores of American society of the day dictated that a unit of soldiers with black skin must be segregated and led by white men. But I think even that was a step toward equality and dignity for a people devastated by the evil of slavery.
Recently we’ve seen a lot of anger toward statues and symbols of white oppression in America. We’ve seen statues of Confederate generals torn down. The last state flag to incorporate the Stars and Bars Confederate battle flag is going to change. Schools honoring Lee and Davis and “Stonewall” Jackson are changing their names.
But we’ve also seen calls for the removal of a bronze relief sculpture in Boston honoring Shaw, simply because it depicts him riding a horse while his Black troops march proudly beside him. We’ve also seen Shaw’s monument vandalized.
An inscription on the monument: “There they march, warm-blooded champions of a better day for man. There on horseback among them, in his very habit as he lived, sits the blue-eyed child of fortune, upon whose happy youth every divinity had smiled.” — William James.
Another: “The White Officers taking life and honor in their hands cast in their lot with men of a despised race unproven in war and risked death as inciters of servile insurrection if taken prisoners besides encountering all the common perils of camp march and battle.
"The Black rank and file volunteered when disaster clouded the Union Cause. Served without pay for eighteen months till given that of white troops. Faced threatened enslavement if captured. Were brave in action. Patient under heavy and dangerous labors. And cheerful amid hardships and privations.
"Together they gave to the Nation and the World undying proof that Americans of African descent possess the pride, courage and devotion of the patriot soldier. One hundred and eighty thousand such Americans enlisted under the Union Flag in MDCCCLXIII–MDCCCLXV. [1863-1865]”
I can’t pretend to know the hardships, pain and deprivation that Black people have endured in this country, but it seems odd to me that a monument honoring a positive step in the right direction should be vilified by any portion of the current Black rights movement in America today.
Glory was nominated for five, and received three, Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for Denzel Washington.
It also won awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, the Golden Globe Awards and the NAACP Image Awards.
Roger Cline is a staff writer for The Snyder News. Comments on this article can be made to roger@snyderdailynews.com