Wiki for Dr. McClurkens Courses

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You should do a total of 2-3 comments/questions/observations this week.  You do not need to post to all areas. -- Dr. McClurken

====== I.	How does this movie work as a secondary source? What does the movie get right about history?  ======

Compare to most of the other films we have seen in this class, //Glory// works as a better example of a secondary source. As with any historical film, it must be used with the company of other sources in order to gain a full perspective on the subject matter, but like the movie //Amistad//, it does a great job in visually representing a subject matter that isn't taught or discussed in most classrooms. While there had been other African American military units, the 54th Massachusetts Regiment was the first to be widely publicized, and the film does an exceptional job in representing its importance. The film also does a great job in portraying the reactions to the African American regiment, from the support of the abolitionists to the opposition of others. Its portrayal of certain characters, such as Shaw, are mostly accurate. Smaller pieces like he war scenes, clothing, and weapons seemed accurate. Overall, the film works fairly well as a visual representation of historical subject matter.

Knighton, Andrew. “What the Film Glory Got Right About the American Civil War and What It Did Not,” May 10, 2017. https://www.warhistoryonline.com/american-civil-war/what-the-film-glory-got-right-about-the-american-civil-war-and-what-it-did-not.html. -- Jordan Petty

//Glory// is one of the better films that we've talked about and seen in class that works as a secondary source for the subject matter. This film is seen as one of the best known depictions of the American Civil War and the story of the 54th Massachussets Regiment being the first all African American regiment. The 54th Regiment was not the first African American unit to serve the Union army but it was one of the most important due to their bravery and praised battle performance. The leader of this regiment that took on the responsibility of forming the group was Robert Shaw. The portrayal of his character throughout the film was accurate. However, throughout the film, the majority of the soldiers are all seen as former slaves when in reality, most of them were free their entire lives. The film overall depicts an accurate representation of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment that fought in the Civil War. -Lauren Simpson

This film certainly gets the history right when it comes to portraying civil war combat in its most realistic form. Rather than implying that the war is brutal and expecting us to take their word, we are shown brutal imagery and scenes of war that make it seem incredibly more believable. After Gone with the Wind's rose-colored look at the civil war as a war fought between gallant, honorable men who fought for noble causes, we are shown  brutal, honest, dirty depiction of warfare between enemies who hate each other, and want to kill each other at all cost. While there are certainly characters and actions that would have been considered inaccurate and very fictionalized (much like Last of the Mohicans was) it is refreshing to see a movie care about depicting the Civil War at least somewhat accurately. -- AJ DeGeorge

Watching this movie directly after watching GWTW is a stark difference. Although it has problems of it's own, compared to GWTW, this movie is leaps and bounds more accurate about the Civil War. Glory shows the racial hardships black soldiers had to deal with during the war, and although the end of the movie makes it seem like those hardships ended with the war (which they did not) at least there is somewhat accurate depiction of what that struggle to be recognized was like. --Cat Kinde

Of all the films we have seen so far this semester I believe that Glory has best shown the realities of warfare in the era it placed itself. The soldiers took to form battle lines with the front-line kneeling for those in the back to present a full volley. Furthermore, it went further to show a handful of volleys followed by a quick melee that was brutal. The initial battle in which Shaw is presented is strong as it presents many examples that conform to actual battles with wounded stumbling off the field long after its conclusion. Some of the film’s events are pulled from the historical record with the protest over the issues of pay and Shaw’s decision to refuse pay with his regiment. Another event was the burning of Darien in which Shaw witnessed brutality and violence that did not sit well with him under the order of Montgomery over the difference in tactics of war. The finale of the film with the Fort Wagner pulled from various records as it showed the realities of death faced by the regiment, the death and ultimate disrespect by the Confederates of Colonel Shaw, and the lack of sleep by which the regiment had endured in arriving at Fort Wagner. The use of the film as a secondary source despite all its adherences to the historical record is something I could not fully support. It lightens many of the racist views of the time and while it follows Shaw for a decent amount of the film it still does not include enough for a strong understanding of the colonel. To begin diving into the subject of the 54th Massachusetts and colonel Shaw it is a strong source but lacks enough to be useful as a source. -Robert Keitz

Glory would be a very good secondary source to be used along with primary documents. I think that the way the movie portrays the war, the 54th regiment, and their experiences paralleled to all-white regiments is fairly accurate. I think that it also does a good job of displaying the racism that the men endured and in the end their work to prove themselves worthy and capable of fighting in the war. The movie also shows the emotional aspects that came along with not only fighting in a war, but dealing with racism for such a long time, and the courage it took to keep working to prove themselves, in a place that did not value them. --Mariah Morton

Glory is a good secondary source for the American Civil War. In fact, a website club War History Online describes it as “one of the best-known screen depictions of the American Civil War.” It gets many things right about the Civil War and the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. One of the major things it gets right is the depiction of Robert Gould Shaw, the unit's first commander. Additionally, it depicts his background as a privileged son of New Englanders who were abolitionists. Additionally, the film shows how he received the command after the Battle of Antietam, establishing an accurate timeline for the creation of the 54th Infantry. The film depicts how Shaw and his men boycott being paid because they were not being paid their promised amount. Additionally, it shows how he died at Fort Wagner fighting with his men. (https://www.warhistoryonline.com/american-civil-war/what-the-film-glory-got-right-about-the-american-civil-war-and-what-it-did-not.html)

Another reason why this makes a good secondary source is that there was no made-up romance to “enhance” this story. The director could have easily done this by incorporating Robert Gould Shaw’s wife whom he married in 1863, which is within the timeline of this movie. However, he doesn't, which goes to show that a film about history does NOT need a romance to be entertaining or interesting. -Megan Williams

====== II.	Problems with historical accuracy? Errors in fact? ======

While the film does do a decent job in portraying the events of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, it is not entirely accurate, as is the case with any historical figure. The most obvious error is the use of fictional characters, such as Trip, John Rawlins, Private Sharts, and Thomas Searles. While these characters did not actually exist, it's interesting to consider the fact that these //types// of individuals did exist in the time period. Trip was the angry enslaved individual who ran away, contrasting with Thomas Searles, an educated, freed African American.

Another glaring inaccuracy deals with the portrayal of the regiment itself. The film depicts the regiment as being made up of mostly runaway slaves, but was actually comprised of mostly freed individuals.

Certain scenes were also in conflict with the timeline of what actually happened. One example of this is the scene when Trip is flogged for deserting the camp. Flogging had been outlawed by the U.S. Army two years before the formation of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment.

“This Day in the Law.” LegalFlip.com. Accessed October 6, 2020. http://www.legalflip.com/ThisDayInTheLaw.aspx?id=225. -- Jordan Petty

This week’s movie, Glory, starts the conversation of how African American slaves and freedmen were treated as they joined the Union forces. This movie captures the very important factor that Union soldiers and troops were also very racist. I know we have talked about this in class, and I wanted to note the fact that a lot of people still think that the Union was anti-racist, but there were a lot of people who held that mentality. One thing this movie did get wrong regarding these relations is the lack of segregation within the camps, and troops themselves. As we know historically speaking, this would have taken place.  - Kaylee Williams

The 1989 film, //Glory//, notably won many awards for its success in historical accuracy and entertainment. Though this drama is a great film, there are a few inaccuracies in it. A big problem I noticed was the ending, where it states that the Confederate fort wasn't taken by the Union soldiers, though in history, the Union soldiers were able to take control in 1863. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/fort-wagner --Tara Scroggins

//Glory// does an amazing job with the accurate historical interpretation of the African American regiments during the Civil War, but there are a few historical inaccuracies within the film. The film shows Robert Shaw immediately accepting an invitation from the Governor to lead a regiment but does not show his hesitancy to command. In reality, he struggled to decide whether to accept the offer, initially rejecting it which turned out to be a crucial few days. The specific characters throughout the film are fictional. The real men who fought as soldiers in the regiment did not dramatize the oppression of the time period as clearly as the characters in the movie portrayed. The two sons of Frederick Douglass signed up to fight straight away with one of them becoming the regimental sergeant major. Another real individual who served in the regiment was Garth Wilkinson James who was fatally injured while serving as an adjutant during the assault on Fort Wagner. -Lauren Simpson

The film chooses to present a problem that is not drawn from the historical record concerning the initial equipment of the 54th Massachusetts. James Henry Gooding in noting his experience with the 54th mentions how they were all fully equipped. While soldiers often complained of lacking equipment and supplies, they generally do so after their initial training as the logistics of suppling the troops was a logistical nightmare. It would be rather illogical for any military force to not supply uniforms and starting gear. While Gooding does mention that their gear was not of the greatest quality, they still received what they needed so they could be professionally trained and easily identified as Union soldiers. The film cuts out the presence of Frederick Douglas’s two sons who joined the 54th. The position held by Morgan Freeman’s character was given to Douglas’s older son, but the film preferred to add Douglas to its runtime without including the contributions of his sons. -Robert Keitz

====== III.	How does the film’s overall interpretation(s) deviate from scholarly historical sources? ======

At the end of the day, while historical, Glory is at it's heart meant to be an entertaining movie. So although it does stay true to the events of what happened at Fort Wagner, the other Union soldiers cheering the 54th regiment on as the ride into battle feels a bit over the top in regards to the relationship between black and white soldiers, especially before the attack on the fort even occurred. Even after the battle at Fort Wagner, the relationship between white and black soldiers was not as great as this makes it out to be. However, I will say the film does stay true to at least parts of the scholarly sources we read for class. James Henry Gooding's letter to President Lincoln talks about the pay difference between white and black soldiers, which we see depicted in the film, as well as the struggle to be recognized as soldiers. --Cat Kinde

After the lecture in class and reading the historical sources, the movie deviated from scholarly sources but also had some consistencies. As mentioned in the reading and in class, there was a pay difference between African American and white Union soldiers, and Col. Robert Shaw really did organize the 54th Massachusetts Regiment as a group to refuse to be paid as a sign of protesting this unfairness. The movie is also accurate in portraying the conviction many African Americans felt towards serving in the Union army, as many characters displayed in the movie regardless of their background or motivations felt incredibly strong about and took pride in serving. However, as Cat mentioned, the relationship between white and African American soldiers did not change overnight as suggested in the movie. White supremacy was still widely believed in the Union during this time in the war, and the 54th Massachusetts Regiment was spearheading the movement for respect for African American soldiers, meaning they likely didn't receive any mutual respect from their white counterparts. While this movie doe an overall good job of addressing the racism that was still rampant during this time period, it certainly didn’t change overnight as suggested in the film. -Morgan Gilbert
====== IV.	How does this movie work as a primary source about the time period in which it was made or the filmmakers? ======

//Glory// is a great primary source for the time it was made. It was the first national film that talked about black regiments in the Civil War, which none had done before. //Glory// is a great resource for seeing the start of discussing more than just the "white man's history", as we've seen in many other films so far. In comparison to //Gone with the Wind//, this film was starkly different, as we are able to see a more accurate representation of the Civil War, rather than what southerners thought occurred. --Tara Scroggins

I think this film works really well as a primary source for the 1980s-1990s. This movie has a stacked cast: Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, Cary Elwes, and Bueller himself. A cast like this makes me think that the directors were serious about making a film that portrayed the 54th Regiment as the heroic, groundbreaking idea that they were. Additionally, //Glory// won three academy awards, with one of them going to Denzel Washington for best supporting actor. So clearly it did really well with the audience of the time as well. On the other side, the film also made a point to claim that most of the black soldiers were former slaves, when in reality most of them were actually free before joining the army. This ties into that subconscious obsession with black trauma we talked about in //Amistad//. It wasn't necessary that the black soldiers in //Glory// needed to be former slaves--however it probably fit with the idea most Americans had at the time about African Americans fighting during the war. So, although not a great thing overall, it is another indicator as to the mindset of Americans in the 1980s-1990s.--Cat Kinde
====== V. The "So, what?" question	======

In terms of teaching African American history, the film //Glory// is a very important film. Like //Amistad//, it brings attention to the history of enslaved individuals in nineteenth century America. Its portrayal of the black regiments during the Civil War and the events that took place in that time is mostly accurate and holds an important place in African American history. While the film does have some inaccuracies, as any historical film does, these inaccuracies shouldn't outweigh the film's importance. Honestly, a lot of the film's importance is due to its accuracy, being that it is considered to be more historically accurate than most other films. -- Jordan Petty

This film is iconic in the way it portrays the civil war, especially from an African American perspective. This war is known in many people's collective consciousness as a war that was fought for the end of slavery, and this film gives the general public an entertaining, albeit sometimes inaccurate depiction of the Northern, specifically Black soldier perspective of the war. Ultimately, this film can inspire people, help them understand that the war really was brutal and depressing, that Freed men really did have a reason to fight and many White Northerners were willing to help them, despite many still casting doubts. It is not dangerous to society if the general public thinks Fort Wagner was never taken, or if Private Till did or didn't exist. Ultimately I think the American public can look to this film as a good, mostly accurate depiction of one of the most destructive and hard times in our history. And if there are some details wrong, I personally don't believe it hurts the message of the film. These were men, who fought for their own freedom, and there were men willing to help them fight for that freedom. -- AJ DeGeorge

Analyzing and watching this movie is incredibly important as it introduced many Americans to not only the story of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, but also the racist conditions in the Union. In school, many students are taught that the Union fought the Civil War purely to end slavery, and while once the war started it definitely became one of the goals of the Union, it certainly wasn’t something that it set out to do in the beginning. This movie is important because it doesn't perpetuate the story and idea that the Union wasn’t racist, when in fact white supremacy was still a very popular idea in the North. This movie does a good job of highlighting the cruelty of the Civil War in general, and especially the struggles African American soldiers faced in their racist treatment by their fellow soldiers and the American government despite their hard work and sacrifices. -Morgan Gilbert

I think that like others have mentioned, this movie could be very helpful in showing a more accurate depiction of African Americans fighting in the Civil War. I think that it also shows that racism was not something that was only an issue in the South but also in the North. I think the film also shows a positive and accurate depiction of the different types of African American men in the war; whether it be runaway slaves or free men and I think that is important also. So many people are taught a version of history that leaves out, or skims over, the work that African Americans did to try to make their lives better; so I think that it is important to explain history in its entirety and I think this film helps with that. --Mariah Morton

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