1. To learn about the significance of African-Americans fighting in the Civil War.
2. To understand the nature of the military confrontations between the Union and Confederate forces.
3. To attain an understanding of race relations in the United States middle period.

In July 1862, Congress passed a law giving the president the authority to enlist "persons of African descent" for war service as soldiers.

The issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, not only freed the slaves in those areas in rebellion, but also provided for the enlistment of black soldiers in the Union military. This changed the conflict from a war to preserve the Union into a revolutionary effort to end slavery.

Frederick Douglass captured the essence of the significance of black troops when he stated: "Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters, U.S.; let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, and there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship."

The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was not the first black regiment to fight in the Civil War. Black regiments had formed in Louisiana and Kansas after Lincoln had issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in September 1862.

Governor John Andrew of Massachusetts enlisted blacks from northern states to form two regiments - the 54th and 55th Massachusetts.

The men of the 54th Massachusetts were free northern blacks, and two of Frederick Douglass' sons served in the regiment.

188,000 black soldiers and sailors fought for the Union between 1862 and 1865.

1. Students can research the activities of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry following the storming of Fort Wagner.
2. At the end of the film, the monument to the 54th Massachusetts in Boston in shown. Have students create their own monuments to the 54th using the mediums of drawing, painting, or writing.
3. Students can research the military engagements of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry and create maps that mark their battles. This can help students understand the tactics involved in the fighting of the war and the stamina that soldiers needed to fight.
4. Have students research the participation of African-Americans from Ohio in the Civil War.
5. Have students research the Emancipation Proclamation. How did this affect the enlistment of African-American troops into the Union forces? How did it change the initial objectives of the Union Army in fighting the war.
6. Have students read about the participation of African-Americans in other wars including the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Indian Wars in the West, and the Spanish-American Cuban Filipino War. How was their participation in these conflicts similar/different from their service in the Civil War?

• www.coax.net/people/lwf/data.htm
• www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/africanh.html

Books:

• Adams, Virginia Matzke, ed. On The Altar of Freedom: A Black Soldier's Civil War Letters from the Front (1991).
• Berlin, Ira, Barbara J. Fields, Steven F. Miller, Joseph P. Reidy, and Leslie S. Rowland, eds. Free at Last: A Documentary History of Slavery, Freedom, and the Civil War (1992).
• Burchard, Peter. One Gallant Rush: Robert Gould Shaw and his brave Black Regiment (1989 (1965)).
• Cornish, Dudley Taylor. The Sable Arm: Negro Troops in the Union Army, 1861- 1865 (1956).
• Franklin, John Hope. The Emancipation Proclamation (1963).
• Glatthaar, Joseph T. Forged in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers (1990).
• McPherson, James M. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (1988).
• McPherson, James M. The Negro's Civil War: How American Negroes Felt and Acted during the War for the Union (1965).
• Quarles, Benjamin. The Negro in the Civil War (1953).
• Redkey, Edwin S., ed. A Grand Army of Black Men: Letters from African-American Soldiers in the Union Army, 1861-1865 (1992).
• Smith, Marion Whitney. Beacon Hill's Colonel Robert Gould Shaw (1986).
• Washington, Versalle F. Eagles on their Buttons: A Black Infantry Regiment in The Civil War (1999). Discusses the Union Army's first black regiment from Ohio.