Classroom Glory
Film’s dynamic narratives and living characters draw students in—but are they useful teaching tools? The film, "Glory," frequently shown in classrooms, tells the story of the 54th Massachusetts, a famous African American regiment in the Civil War. Decide whether the following “truths” suggested by the film are true or false.
1. The 54th, led by Robert Gould Shaw, son of prominent (white) abolitionists, consisted largely of former slaves. False.
Glory leads viewers to believe that most (though not all) of the men who served under Shaw (pictured here) were former slaves. Although this conceit adds to the impact of the film—making the 54th's struggle for recognition and an equal place in the war a mirror of the general African American struggle for freedom and equality—it veers far from historical fact. Most of the men who volunteered for the 54th were born freemen from middle-class backgrounds. In fact, two soldiers in the 54th were sons of the abolitionist Frederick Douglass.
2. The unsuccessful but heroic attack on Fort Wagner, SC, in which the Confederates killed or captured approximately 50% of the regiment, was the last battle in which the 54th served. False.
Glory ends with the 54th's attack on Fort Wagner, and the losses its men suffered. This gives the impression that the regiment dissolved after the Fort Wagner assault. In reality, the 54th went on to fight in several more battles and skirmishes, including the Battle of Olustee (in Florida) the Battle of Honey Hill (in South Carolina), and the Battle of Boykin's Mill (also in South Carolina).
3. The bravery of the 54th at Fort Wagner inspired Congress to authorize raising other African American troops for the Union army. False.
The ending caption in Glory—"As word of their bravery spread, Congress at last authorized the raising of black troops throughout the Union"—is inaccurate. According to historian James M. McPherson, Congress had authorized the mustering of further African American troops "months earlier."
Further, though it might be easy to believe otherwise while watching the film, the 54th was not the first African American regiment—the U.S. government began enlisting African Americans as early as 1862, almost a year before the 54th's formation in March 1863.
4. A member of the regiment was flogged for desertion, in keeping with standard military punishments at the time. False.
One of the most often described moments in the film, when former slave Trip reveals his scarred back before receiving a flogging for desertion, is unlikely to have ever happened in life. Leaving aside the character's fictional nature (like many of Glory's characters, except Shaw, Trip was created for the film), a soldier would not have been flogged as punishment in 1863—according to historian Joseph T. Glatthar, flogging was outlawed in the U.S. military in 1861.
Do its historical inaccuracies make Glory (and other historical films) inappropriate for the U.S. history classroom? No, say many historians and educational experts—the trick lies in making students aware that films manipulate historical facts and create new "facts" in order to tell dramatic stories, convey themes, and trigger emotions. Educators who use films in the classroom must use them as more than just compelling emotional "hooks" into a time period; they must teach students to ask questions about the accuracy of what they see, and about why filmmakers have chosen to either stick to or stray from the facts in their stories.
According to a Washington University study, educators must warn students of a film's specific historical inaccuracies prior to showing the film. A number of articles examine Glory and point out its accuracies and inaccuracies in detail. In "The Burden of Historical Representation: Race, Freedom, and 'Educational' Hollywood Film" (Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies 36.1 [2006] 26-35), professors and former social studies teachers Jeremy D. Stoddard and Alan S. Marcus look at the messages conveyed by filmmakers' choices in both Glory and the film Amistad (requires JSTOR or MUSE access). Daniel A. Nathan discusses his experiences using Glory in the classroom in "The Massachusetts 54th on Film: Teaching Glory" (OAH Magazine of History, Vol. 16, No. 4, Film and History [Summer, 2002] pp. 38-42); and Joseph T. Glatthar goes point by point through the film's historical inaccuracies in "Glory, the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, and Black Soldiers in the Civil War" (The History Teacher, Vol. 24, No. 4 [Aug., 1991], pp. 475-485) (require JSTOR or MUSE access).
For further thoughts and guidelines on productively introducing historical films into the classroom, try Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies (Mark C. Carnes, ed., New York: Henry Holt, 1996). Past Imperfect looks at the historical accuracy (or inaccuracy) of over 60 films, including Glory, Apollo 13, Malcolm X, JFK, All the President's Men, and other films on U.S. figures and events. Another historian and former social studies teacher, Scott Alan Metzger, reviews steps of analysis that he believes students should be guided through in approaching films in "Pedagogy and the Historical Feature Film: Toward Historical Literacy" (Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies 37.2 [2007] 67-75) (requires JSTOR or MUSE access).
You might also read the Clearinghouse's Research Brief What Do Students Learn from Historical Feature Films?, in which historian and professor Peter Seixas considers ways to get students questioning their initial, emotional reactions to films.
- Mark C. Carnes, ed., Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies (New York: Henry Holt, 1996).
- Joseph T. Glatthar, "Glory, the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, and Black Soldiers in the Civil War," The History Teacher, Vol. 24, No. 4 (Aug. 1991): 475-485, http://www.jstor.org.mutex.gmu.edu/stable/494706 (accessed February 12, 2010).
- Kurz & Allison, "Storming Fort Wagner," c. 1890, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Collection, http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pga.01949 (accessed February 9, 2010).
- Painting of the Battle at Olustee, State Library and Archives of Florida, Florida Memory, http://www.floridamemory.com/OnlineClassroom/FloridaCivilWar/Olustee.cfm (accessed February 9, 2010).
- Alfred R. Waud, "Drunken soldiers tied up for fighting and other unruly conduct," c. 1860-1865, Prints and Photographs Collection, Library of Congress, http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.21215 (accessed February 15, 2010).
- Wikimedia Commons, "Rgshaw," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rgshaw.jpg (accessed February 9, 2010).
