54Th cavalry

54th Cavalry

During a period of political turmoil, when the issue of slavery prevailed in the lives

of Americans and caused one the worst wars that the world has faced; the Civil War,who would have imagined that an army of black soldiers would be raised. The North

fighting for the freedom of the slaves and the South fighting to keep their slaves

untouched. As battles werefought and it was obvious that the Civil was was not even

nearly done, a army of black slaves, better known as the 54th Massachusetts, was

allowed to be raised to fight for the North. Althoughthe 54th Massachusetts (the first

Negro regiment), was composed of black slaves, racism not only came from the North

to the slaves or the South to the slaves, it also came from slave to slave.Although most people in the North were not racist, and were fighting the

Confederacy or the South to gain the freedom of the salves in America, racism from the

North was still seenagainst black slaves. For instance, in the movie “Glory” they depict

a scene of racism from the North when General Robert Gould Shaw is told about the

Negro regiment that was going to be raised, andsome of the people at the reception, as

well as other soldiers are surprised as well as astonished at General Shaw’s

acceptance to be the Commander of the first Negro regiment.

Thedesire of the South to keep its slaves was of no surprise. They saw the

black slaves as property and or machines without a soul. The Confederates believed

that the slaves were inferior to them andthat the only purpose of their existence was to

work the fields and obey the rules of their masters. The hate and racism that the

southerners had against black slaves and the slaveryabolitionists was unbelievable. A

perfect example of this is when during the movie “Glory”, general Shaw reads a letter to

the slaves saying that any black slave that did not die in battle but that...