![]() As a compromise to ensure political support, it was stipulated that its officers be white. After all, the 54th Massachusetts was a real historical entity. In Glory’s case, this complaint arose mainly in response to the (historically accurate) depiction of the regiment’s commanding officers as Northern whites. Watching it this time, I remembered how startled I had been when Glory was released to learn that many people, including blacks and people on the left, dismissed or even disparaged the film as a “white savior narrative”-a phrase that is now a routine derogation of certain cross-racial sagas of resistance to white supremacy. Imagining what that felt like for the soldiers of the 54th is always intensely gratifying. I pulled up the clip on a recent flight and was moved yet again by the powerful imagery of black men finally able to strike a blow against the slaveocracy. James Island was a fateful battle outside Charleston, SC, on July 16, 1863. The scene depicts the first engagement of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, the first Northern regiment of black troops organized by the Army of the United States to fight against the Confederate insurrection. ![]() ![]() ![]() Occasionally, on a boring flight, I’ll rewatch the Battle of James Island scene from the magnificent 1989 film, Glory. ![]()
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