Learning Resources: The Whole Staircase: Films Celebrating 400 Years of African American History & Culture: Glory

Glory (1989)

The Library selected this film for inclusion in The Whole Staircase Film series.

"Edward Zwick's Glory (1989), a Civil War historical drama starring Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, and Morgan Freeman, is especially memorable for its attention to physical detail- the cinematography and production design are both breathtaking. But Zwick's story, which is based on real events, also deals with the plight of African-American troops during the War Between the States, a topic that, quite shamefully, is barely touched upon in this country's history books. For that reason, the film is more challenging than your average Civil War picture. Many of the narrative's key battles are fought between men who are supposed to be comrades in arms." - Turner Classic Movies

Screening Dates and Locations

May 14, 2019
Location: Palatka Campus Library
Start time: 5:30 p.m.
All are welcome!

September 19, 2019

5:30 p.m., Palatka Campus Library

Members of the Race Issues Study Circle will be in attendance.

All are welcome to this free event!

If you need an interpreter, please email Dr. Will at least 2 days before the event.

Film Information - Glory

Synopsis: "Robert Gould Shaw leads the U.S. Civil War's first all-black volunteer company, fighting prejudices from both his own Union Army, and the Confederates." - publisher

Run time: 122 minutes

This film is rated R.

Licensed through Swank

Resources for Further Exploration - Glory

Online Resources

Sergeant Henry F. Steward The True Story Behind the Movie Glory

Little-known Civil War battle carried huge significance

How the Men of 'Glory' Stood Up to the U.S. Government

54th Regiment! - from the Massachusetts Historical Society. Provides photographs of men who served in the 54th including the picture of Sergeant Henry F. Steward featured here.

54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment: Raising a True John Brown Corps - an exhibit at Tufts

Creating ‘The Glorious 54th’

Exhibit: 54th Mass Casualty List - from the National Archives and Records Administration

'Glory' Resurrects Its Black Heroes - 1989 New York Times article about the film

TNR Film Classic: 'Glory' (1990)

Books and eBooks at the SJR State Library
Books may be checked out by community patrons as well as SJR State students faculty and staff. If a title is located at another campus, the book may be sent to another campus upon request.

Please note: eBooks are only accessible to currently registered SJR State students, faculty, and staff via MySJRstate due to licensing restrictions.

Thunder at the Gates: The Black Civil War regiments that Redeemed America by Douglas R. Egerton
Call Number: Palatka and St. Augustine Circulation -- E492.9 .E35 2016
ISBN: 9780465096640
Publication Date: 2016-11-01
Almost immediately after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, abolitionists began to call for the raising of black regiments. The South and most of the North responded with outrage. Southerners vowed to enslave black soldiers captured in battle, while many northerners claimed that blacks lacked the courage to fight. Yet Boston's Brahmins, always eager for a moral crusade, launched one of the greatest experiments in American history. In this book, Douglas R. Egerton chronicles the formation and exploits of the 54th and 55th Massachusetts Infantry and the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry -- regiments led by whites but composed of black men born free or into slavery. - publisher
The Sable Arm: Negro Troops in the Union Army, 1861-1865 by Cornish, Dudley Taylor
Call Number: Palatka Civil War Collection -- E540.N3 C77 1966
Publication Date: 1966
Be Free or Die: The amazing story of Robert Smalls' escape from slavery to Union hero by Cate Lineberry
Call Number: St. Augustine Circulation -- E185.97 .S6 L56 2017
ISBN: 9781250101860
Publication Date: 2017-06-20
"It was a mild May morning in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1862, the second year of the Civil War, when a twenty-three-year-old slave named Robert Smalls did the unthinkable and boldly seized a Confederate steamer. With his wife and two young children hidden on board, Smalls and a small crew ran a gauntlet of heavily armed fortifications in Charleston Harbor and delivered the valuable vessel and the massive guns it carried to nearby Union forces. To be unsuccessful was a death sentence for all. Smalls' courageous and ingenious act freed him and his family from slavery and immediately made him a Union hero while simultaneously challenging much of the country's view of what African Americans were willing to do to gain their freedom. After his escape, Smalls served in numerous naval campaigns off Charleston as a civilian boat pilot and eventually became the first black captain of an Army ship ... Be Free or Die is a compelling narrative that illuminates Robert Smalls' amazing journey from slave to Union hero and ultimately United States Congressman."--Jacket.
A History of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Colored Infantry in the Civil War by George H. Junne
Call Number: eResources eBooks
ISBN: 9780773411999
Publication Date: 2012-02-14
Gate of Hell: Campaign for Charleston Harbor, 1863 by Stephen R. Wise
Call Number: eResources eBooks
ISBN: 9780585336275
Publication Date: 1994-01-01
Blue-Eyed Child of Fortune: The Civil War letters of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw by Robert Gould Shaw; Russell Duncan (Editor); William S. McFeely (Foreword by)
Call Number: eResources eBooks
ISBN: 9780820342771
Publication Date: 2011-08-15
Through nearly two hundred letters, the son of a wealthy Boston abolitionist wrote of his experiences as the commander of the all-black 54th Massachusetts Infantry in the Civil War. The portrait that emerges is of a man more divided and complex--though no less heroic--than the Shaw depicted in the celebrated film Glory. - publisher
On the Altar of Freedom: A black soldier's Civil War letters from the front by James Henry Gooding; Virginia M. Adams
Call Number: eResources eBooks
ISBN: 9780585139029
Publication Date: 1991-01-01
A Voice of Thunder: The Civil War letters of George E. Stephens by Donald Yacovone (Editor); George Stephens (Editor)
Call Number: Palatka Civil War Collection -- E513.5 54th .S74 1997
ISBN: 0252022459
Publication Date: 1996-11-01
"What was it like to be an African-American soldier during the Civil War?" "The writings of George E. Stephens thunder across the more than a century that has passed since the war, answering that question and telling us much more." "A Philadelphia cabinetmaker and a soldier in the famed Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment - featured in the film Glory - Stephens was the most important African-American war correspondent of his era. The forty-four letters he wrote between 1859 and 1864 for the New York Weekly Anglo-African, together with thirteen photographs and Donald Yacovone's biographical introduction detailing Stephens's life and times, provide a singular perspective on the greatest crisis in the history of the United States." "From the inception of the Fifty-fourth early in 1863 Stephens was the unit's voice, telling of its struggle against slavery and its quest to win the pay it had been promised. His description of the July 18, 1863, assault on Battery Wagner near Charleston, South Carolina, and his writings on the unit's eighteen-month campaign to be paid as much as white troops are gripping accounts of heroism and persistence in the face of danger and insult." "The Anglo-African was the preeminent African-American newspaper of its time. Stephens's correspondence, intimate and authoritative, takes in an expansive array of issues and anticipates nearly all modern assessments of the black role in the Civil War. His commentary on the Lincoln administration's wartime policy and his conviction that the issues of race and slavery were central to nineteenth-century American life mark him as a major American social critic."--BOOK JACKET.

Celebration • Education • Reflection

H.R.1242/Public Law 115-102, the 400 Years of African American History Commission Act, establishes 2019 as a year of "commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Africans in the English colonies, at Point Comfort, Virginia, in 1619." The commemoration is intended “to recognize and highlight the resilience and contributions of African-Americans since 1619; to acknowledge the impact that slavery and laws that enforced racial discrimination had on the United States; and to educate the public about the arrival of Africans in the United States; and the contributions of African-Americans to the United States.” In recognition of this commemoration and with the Act serving as a guide, the SJR State Library has organized a year-long series of events that will provide educational experiences and resources to students and the community that celebrate the history and culture of African Americans.

Site created and maintained by Dr. Christina Will. Pages will be added and maintained throughout 2019.
Maintenance will cease at the end of 2019 but this site will remain accessible.