In honor of Veteran's Day

In honor of Veteran's Day I wanted to discuss the history of the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. The 54th was one of many units of Black military forces that served during the American Civil Ward. Typically on days such as this I want to discuss the role of Blacks who served in the US military during the history of this nation.

The story of the 54th was told in the film Glory which starred Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, and Morgan Freeman. This was a movie my 8th grade class watched in order to get us more in touch with Black history. Unfortunately aside from watching it in class and perhaps on TV at times over the years this film has been an afterthought.

Which is unfortunate especially since I could get in on such formats as VHS, DVD, and now I could download it via iTunes. It also opened my eyes to the role of Black troops during the Civil War one of the ending results was the ending of slavery in the United States. Black troops were certainly contributing to that cause.

Now that I think about it's time to own the 2012 film Lincoln. The first scene of the film involved President Abraham Lincoln speaking with Union soldiers especially a pair of Black Union soldiers who successfully recite the Gettysburg Address. The gist of the film involves the debate over the 13th amendment to the US Constitution to abolish slavery in the United States and certainly those Black soldiers contributed to the victory of Union forces in the Civil War.

May we honor all of our military veterans and their role in our history and honor their service to the United States of America!