Glory (1989)
Edward Zwick’s film Glory (1989), starring Matthew Broderick, Morgan Freeman, Andre Braugher, and Denzel Washington, brings the story of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry to life. The 54th, the first all African American regiment, paved the way for the estimated 179,000 African American soldiers to serve in the Union army. Broderick’s character Robert Gould Shaw is based on their actual commander, although he seemed less enthusiastic and more ambivalent about leading the 54th than his fictional counterpart.
While Shaw is based in fact, the men that make up the 54th are not. Some historians believe that Braugher’s character Thomas Searles, an educated gentleman close to Shaw, is based on sons of Frederick Douglass who fought in the 54th, the only such parallel drawn to an actual soldier. The fictional soldiers fought for the right to fight in battle instead of being used merely as manual labor.
