I found it surprising how unwelcome the 54th infantry was. I knew that racism was a severe issue at the time but I expected the soldiers to be welcomed at the camp because I expected them to be seen as people that would be doing undesirable tasks. Nevertheless, they were obviously unwelcome. I was surprised by how harsh Colonel Shaw was being with people he had previously known. I believe in treating everybody in the workplace equally but he was being pretty mean. Hopefully, going forward, Colonel Shaw realizes that he is risking his friendships and changes his ways.
I was surprised to hear that the Confederate states published a document during the war that stated that all blacks that were working for the Union when captured would be forced back into slavery, and that all blacks who were captured while serving in the Union army would be immediately put to death. I had never heard of this proclamation before. When I learned about the Civil War in the past, I only ever learned about documents published by the North, such as the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address. It is interesting to learn that the Confederate states did in fact write this decree because it shows that while the Union was fighting and publishing decrees in order to dissolve slavery, the South was counteracting this by punishing any black man, regardless of whether they were born free or not, for serving the Union.
I was also surprised to see how unwilling the Union commanders were to let the black men fight for the Union army. These men could have helped the war cause a great deal by providing more man power than they originally began with. Also, these free black were more than eager to fight for the Union cause, which meant training them for combat was much easier than any white regiment, as said by one of the captains in the movie. Despite this, the blacks were still mistreated and were not allowed to see much fighting during the war, which was something that I found to be startling.
Robert Gould Shaw's character (played by Matthew Broderick) has several noteworthy moments throughout the movie. To me, one of the more interesting aspects of the film is the relationship development between Gould and Maj. Cabot Forbes (played by Cary Elwes from The Princess Bride.) When Shaw was first assigned to lead the 54th Infantry, he asked Forbes to join him as a Major. Shaw and Forbes display that they are close friends, if not best friends. However, Shaw's new military power seems to get to his head, and his friendship with Forbes begins to crack. At first, the two have mild disagreements, and Shaw starts to feel like Forbes has disrespected him. Shaw desires to be treated as an actual Col., and wants to prove himself as a leader. As a result, Shaw and Forbes' friendship becomes tarnished. Shaw feels superior to Forbes, and the scene where Shaw rides on his horse past Forbes shows this. In the scene, Forbes wants to talk with Shaw, and Shaw stays on his horse, showing off his superiority to Forbes. Shaw no longer sees himself as equal to a man who was once his best friend. At this point in the movie, we have started to see Shaw transform from a soft spoken captain into a strong Colonel. For those of you who have not seen the movie, I will not spoil the ending for you, but make sure to keep an eye on how Shaw’s character develops throughout the remainder of the movie.
A noteworthy scene from today's clip was when the man was being whipped. He the whole time was looking directly into Robert Gould Shaw's eyes. Gould Shaw in the scene appeared to be distressed and guilty about the situation given he was up that night in his bed thinking. I wondered during this scene why Gould Shaw chose this as punishment for the black troops. He seemed guilty having the man be whipped but still agreed to the punishment. Gould Shaw has shown that he views blacks somewhat equally given his relationship with Forbes growing up. Why then was he treating them more cruelly and differently than the white forces? Since these men were recently free, by whipping them they are treating them like slaves again and lesser of a person.
When watching the movie Glory I found it interesting the drastic change in Robert Gould Shaw from when he was originally told he was going to lead the black troops to when he was actually in the camp. The first time Shaw was told he would be the leader of the troops, he seemed to respect the black men as human beings. However, as soon as all of them came into the camp, he began to treat them as if they were no longer part of the army and acted as if they were lesser than himself. Although I knew at the time whites in both the North and the south did not consider blacks as their equals, I was surprised at how quickly Shaw's opinions and actions changed.
Another thing that surprised me was the fact that the black men, who wanted to fight in the army to go against the people who had treated them so badly for many years, were not even allowed to fight. Rather, they were all given a hope that they did not realize would not come true. Why they would waste the time training them if the Robert Gould Shaw knew they would not fight, makes little sense. Also, although the army would get in trouble for using the blacks, both the North and South were fighting regardless so what would one more conflict do if the union had more soldiers to help fight against the South?
One thing that I found noteworthy was when the African American soldiers were discussing Col. Shaw’s ability to be a leader. One of the soldiers points out the Shaw never went to West Point, and implied that maybe he was not fit to be a leader. The troops were so eager to fight and ready to go to war for the Union, but slowly, they began to see different ways that the odds were stacked against them. They did not think that maybe Col. Shaw was just a great leader who got promoted based on his skills shown earlier in the war. Instead, they rightfully assumed that this troop was just for appearances, to look good for everyone else. They have such a strong distrust for the country they live in, and what really hit me about that was completely justified. This was just another way that the country they so proudly fought for disrespected them and their abilities. They began to realize that their troop was manufactured to inspire hope in every one else. It was perfect, the young new colonel leading the all African American troops into war. It really hit me how undervalued this troop was, because they had such passion and drive, but were never allowed to show that to their country.
I found it noteworthy that it was so impossible to get simple things such as decent shoes for the soldiers of the 54th infantry. At the beginning, when volunteering, the members were neatly dressed, but in clothes that were not high quality. They must be wearing the same shoes from that day, which probably were probably not meant for soldiers and were broken down quickly from the hard lifestyle at the training camp while getting ready to be in battle. The camera pans in at a soldier’s bare foot at one point during the movie, showing a bloodied, red, raw foot that looked extremely painful to even stand on, let alone to use in training, marching, or battle. One man was even mistaken as a deserter and was punished when found after he went on a quest to find shoes. Shaw mentioned that they had put in an order for shoes, but it is laughed off and said that it will probably not happen as necessary materials were being given to more “battle-ready” regimens. The idea that the men were so desperate over one small easily fixed problem is noteworthy to me, as these men who were willing to fight for the Union were denied even the simplest of things.
While watching Glory, I found Col. Shaw's progressive change in his actions and how he held himself noteworthy. In the beginning of the movie, through his letters home and narration he seemed humble and friendly. However once he was instated as the Col. of the 54th infantry, I began to see his character change to more of a cold and distant leader. In the beginning of the movie, he regarded friend Thomas with respect and friendliness, after all Shaw did grow up with Thomas. As Shaw was riding his horse amongst the crowd of black men waiting to sign up to fight for the infantry, he acknowledged the men, looking them in the eyes with a pleasant expression and nodding at some. Once Shaw was appointed Col. of the 54th infantry, I saw his character begin to change. For example, Shaw chastised Maj for “fraternizing” with Thomas when he was simply talking to him. As the movie goes on, Shaw becomes colder to Thomas and almost acts as if they weren’t friends before the infantry. Thomas supported Shaw when he first was acted to be Col., and continued to support him despite Shaw’s mistreatment towards him. I found Shaw’s change in character most noteworthy, as he separated himself from his old friends and became cold towards his soldiers and comrades.
I found it very interesting the concept that the white leading military officers refrained from telling the black regiment men that they were probably never going to fight in battle because of their race. It seemed unfair to lead them on to think that would soon be called up and given a chance to fight for their country. When in actuality they were putting their hearts, souls, and hard work into seemingly nothing. In truth, many of the men at the military camp would most likely be content with just knowing that they were apart of the US military, given the history of their race in the US. Nonetheless, Colonel Shaw's decision to neglect telling his troops somewhat parallels that past as he is treating them as unequal. I know that racism was pretty common at the time but why did the US military think it was necessary to create this "last resort" regiment if they never planned on actually sending the men to war?
In Glory, I found the struggle of choosing punishment for the African American soldiers interesting. The most noteworthy punishment was when Denzel Washington’s character, Trip, got whipped. Col. Shaw struggled to decide if the punishment was appropriate or not. On one hand, he knew that it was culturally insensitive but it is the traditional punishment for white soldiers. Col. Shaw always chose the punishment that the other officer recommended because he wanted to seem like a strong leader. I think this moment foreshadows some of the social confusion that America faced after slaves were freed. People had to go against the ideals that they were raised with and learn what was actually appropriate to say or do.
In the movie Glory, I was very surprised and intrigued by the character Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. At first, I was surprised by the way he reacted to the black men and treated them as if they were inferiors. I did not realize before how much the North was still biased towards African Americans. What shocked me and intrigued me most though, was the way he treated his soldiers. Shaw was extremely harsh and strict with the black soldiers. He held them to extremely high standards and was quick to punish, but gave no mercy, not even to his friend. I was surprised at how badly he treated the soldiers, but I was not sure what the training for white soldiers was like, so I did not know whether it was normal or he was just being cruel. On the other hand, Shaw was treating them like that because it was his responsibility to train them, and if they weren't trained well, they would be slaughtered when they had to fight for real. I still thought that Shaw was being too cruel to the soldiers, but when he was eating dinner with the division quartermaster, I realized that everyone outside of the regiment thought it was a joke; the quartermaster refused to give Shaw much-needed shoes for the soldiers and made it sound ridiculous that the black soldiers might actually be allowed to fight in a battle. This made me realize that, even though Shaw appeared to be cruel and unfair, he really had benevolent motivations; Shaw really believed in his men and expected them to be able to fight in battles with the white soldiers. He viewed them as equals with the white soldiers, so he was really just trying to prepare them as best he could so that they would survive. He was trying to train them as well as the white soldiers were trained, perhaps even better because he was virtually the only one who they could rely on to prepare themselves.
I found it noteworthy when Colonel Shaw was eating alongside the other colonels. They were talking about how the 54th company would not be able to fight and that the company was not going to be able to receive shoes. In this scene, Col. Shaw experiences a mild form of discrimination that African Americans experience on a daily basis. Shaw does not become aware that he is being treated differently until the colonel he is talking to, in short, says that the 54th company does not deserve/need shoes. After Shaw left, the other colonel calls him a "twit". This was noteworthy because it showed how affiliation with African Americans caused people to become targets to discrimination and racism. I had understood that racism was extremely prominent in the time, but it was not clear how affiliation made people a target as well.
What shocked me the most was Robert's lack of strength of character. He allowed his Seargeant to whip a black soldier as punishment for being away from camp without authorization. This type of punishment has such a strong negative history for these men, whether personal or symbolic, given that whips were the primary form of punishment used on slaves. Robert was against slavery, so the fact that he allowed these men to experience the same things that slaves experienced shows how little conviction he has about his beleifs. I was surprised that a man who is considered to have contributed so much to American history would act in such a way.
What I found confusing about the movie was colonel shaw's character. Colonel shaw at first was eager for his colored regiment. This makes him seem not racist. However when he started to train his troops he started to become harsher on them than on white troops. This culminated in the whipping scene. Whipping is a racial charged action in this movie. Many of the men were there to end the slavery and the whipping in the north. But, the north was not better. I was unsure whether colonel shaw was racist or let power go to his head. Because he also turned against his white friend and Thomas.
I found the scene when the deserter was whipped quite noteworthy. I thought it clearly displayed the racial tension that existed well into the north. We frequently consider the north as the truly excepting land where racial inequality simply does not exist, yet this scene illustrates the struggles that even the north still had not overcome.
I found it surprising how unwelcome the 54th infantry was. I knew that racism was a severe issue at the time but I expected the soldiers to be welcomed at the camp because I expected them to be seen as people that would be doing undesirable tasks. Nevertheless, they were obviously unwelcome.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised by how harsh Colonel Shaw was being with people he had previously known. I believe in treating everybody in the workplace equally but he was being pretty mean. Hopefully, going forward, Colonel Shaw realizes that he is risking his friendships and changes his ways.
I was surprised to hear that the Confederate states published a document during the war that stated that all blacks that were working for the Union when captured would be forced back into slavery, and that all blacks who were captured while serving in the Union army would be immediately put to death. I had never heard of this proclamation before. When I learned about the Civil War in the past, I only ever learned about documents published by the North, such as the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address. It is interesting to learn that the Confederate states did in fact write this decree because it shows that while the Union was fighting and publishing decrees in order to dissolve slavery, the South was counteracting this by punishing any black man, regardless of whether they were born free or not, for serving the Union.
ReplyDeleteI was also surprised to see how unwilling the Union commanders were to let the black men fight for the Union army. These men could have helped the war cause a great deal by providing more man power than they originally began with. Also, these free black were more than eager to fight for the Union cause, which meant training them for combat was much easier than any white regiment, as said by one of the captains in the movie. Despite this, the blacks were still mistreated and were not allowed to see much fighting during the war, which was something that I found to be startling.
Robert Gould Shaw's character (played by Matthew Broderick) has several noteworthy moments throughout the movie. To me, one of the more interesting aspects of the film is the relationship development between Gould and Maj. Cabot Forbes (played by Cary Elwes from The Princess Bride.) When Shaw was first assigned to lead the 54th Infantry, he asked Forbes to join him as a Major. Shaw and Forbes display that they are close friends, if not best friends. However, Shaw's new military power seems to get to his head, and his friendship with Forbes begins to crack. At first, the two have mild disagreements, and Shaw starts to feel like Forbes has disrespected him. Shaw desires to be treated as an actual Col., and wants to prove himself as a leader. As a result, Shaw and Forbes' friendship becomes tarnished. Shaw feels superior to Forbes, and the scene where Shaw rides on his horse past Forbes shows this. In the scene, Forbes wants to talk with Shaw, and Shaw stays on his horse, showing off his superiority to Forbes. Shaw no longer sees himself as equal to a man who was once his best friend. At this point in the movie, we have started to see Shaw transform from a soft spoken captain into a strong Colonel. For those of you who have not seen the movie, I will not spoil the ending for you, but make sure to keep an eye on how Shaw’s character develops throughout the remainder of the movie.
ReplyDeleteA noteworthy scene from today's clip was when the man was being whipped. He the whole time was looking directly into Robert Gould Shaw's eyes. Gould Shaw in the scene appeared to be distressed and guilty about the situation given he was up that night in his bed thinking. I wondered during this scene why Gould Shaw chose this as punishment for the black troops. He seemed guilty having the man be whipped but still agreed to the punishment. Gould Shaw has shown that he views blacks somewhat equally given his relationship with Forbes growing up. Why then was he treating them more cruelly and differently than the white forces? Since these men were recently free, by whipping them they are treating them like slaves again and lesser of a person.
ReplyDeleteWhen watching the movie Glory I found it interesting the drastic change in Robert Gould Shaw from when he was originally told he was going to lead the black troops to when he was actually in the camp. The first time Shaw was told he would be the leader of the troops, he seemed to respect the black men as human beings. However, as soon as all of them came into the camp, he began to treat them as if they were no longer part of the army and acted as if they were lesser than himself. Although I knew at the time whites in both the North and the south did not consider blacks as their equals, I was surprised at how quickly Shaw's opinions and actions changed.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that surprised me was the fact that the black men, who wanted to fight in the army to go against the people who had treated them so badly for many years, were not even allowed to fight. Rather, they were all given a hope that they did not realize would not come true. Why they would waste the time training them if the Robert Gould Shaw knew they would not fight, makes little sense. Also, although the army would get in trouble for using the blacks, both the North and South were fighting regardless so what would one more conflict do if the union had more soldiers to help fight against the South?
One thing that I found noteworthy was when the African American soldiers were discussing Col. Shaw’s ability to be a leader. One of the soldiers points out the Shaw never went to West Point, and implied that maybe he was not fit to be a leader. The troops were so eager to fight and ready to go to war for the Union, but slowly, they began to see different ways that the odds were stacked against them. They did not think that maybe Col. Shaw was just a great leader who got promoted based on his skills shown earlier in the war. Instead, they rightfully assumed that this troop was just for appearances, to look good for everyone else. They have such a strong distrust for the country they live in, and what really hit me about that was completely justified. This was just another way that the country they so proudly fought for disrespected them and their abilities. They began to realize that their troop was manufactured to inspire hope in every one else. It was perfect, the young new colonel leading the all African American troops into war. It really hit me how undervalued this troop was, because they had such passion and drive, but were never allowed to show that to their country.
ReplyDeleteI found it noteworthy that it was so impossible to get simple things such as decent shoes for the soldiers of the 54th infantry. At the beginning, when volunteering, the members were neatly dressed, but in clothes that were not high quality. They must be wearing the same shoes from that day, which probably were probably not meant for soldiers and were broken down quickly from the hard lifestyle at the training camp while getting ready to be in battle. The camera pans in at a soldier’s bare foot at one point during the movie, showing a bloodied, red, raw foot that looked extremely painful to even stand on, let alone to use in training, marching, or battle. One man was even mistaken as a deserter and was punished when found after he went on a quest to find shoes. Shaw mentioned that they had put in an order for shoes, but it is laughed off and said that it will probably not happen as necessary materials were being given to more “battle-ready” regimens. The idea that the men were so desperate over one small easily fixed problem is noteworthy to me, as these men who were willing to fight for the Union were denied even the simplest of things.
ReplyDeleteWhile watching Glory, I found Col. Shaw's progressive change in his actions and how he held himself noteworthy. In the beginning of the movie, through his letters home and narration he seemed humble and friendly. However once he was instated as the Col. of the 54th infantry, I began to see his character change to more of a cold and distant leader. In the beginning of the movie, he regarded friend Thomas with respect and friendliness, after all Shaw did grow up with Thomas. As Shaw was riding his horse amongst the crowd of black men waiting to sign up to fight for the infantry, he acknowledged the men, looking them in the eyes with a pleasant expression and nodding at some. Once Shaw was appointed Col. of the 54th infantry, I saw his character begin to change. For example, Shaw chastised Maj for “fraternizing” with Thomas when he was simply talking to him. As the movie goes on, Shaw becomes colder to Thomas and almost acts as if they weren’t friends before the infantry. Thomas supported Shaw when he first was acted to be Col., and continued to support him despite Shaw’s mistreatment towards him. I found Shaw’s change in character most noteworthy, as he separated himself from his old friends and became cold towards his soldiers and comrades.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI found it very interesting the concept that the white leading military officers refrained from telling the black regiment men that they were probably never going to fight in battle because of their race. It seemed unfair to lead them on to think that would soon be called up and given a chance to fight for their country. When in actuality they were putting their hearts, souls, and hard work into seemingly nothing. In truth, many of the men at the military camp would most likely be content with just knowing that they were apart of the US military, given the history of their race in the US. Nonetheless, Colonel Shaw's decision to neglect telling his troops somewhat parallels that past as he is treating them as unequal. I know that racism was pretty common at the time but why did the US military think it was necessary to create this "last resort" regiment if they never planned on actually sending the men to war?
ReplyDeleteIn Glory, I found the struggle of choosing punishment for the African American soldiers interesting. The most noteworthy punishment was when Denzel Washington’s character, Trip, got whipped. Col. Shaw struggled to decide if the punishment was appropriate or not. On one hand, he knew that it was culturally insensitive but it is the traditional punishment for white soldiers. Col. Shaw always chose the punishment that the other officer recommended because he wanted to seem like a strong leader. I think this moment foreshadows some of the social confusion that America faced after slaves were freed. People had to go against the ideals that they were raised with and learn what was actually appropriate to say or do.
ReplyDeleteIn the movie Glory, I was very surprised and intrigued by the character Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. At first, I was surprised by the way he reacted to the black men and treated them as if they were inferiors. I did not realize before how much the North was still biased towards African Americans. What shocked me and intrigued me most though, was the way he treated his soldiers. Shaw was extremely harsh and strict with the black soldiers. He held them to extremely high standards and was quick to punish, but gave no mercy, not even to his friend. I was surprised at how badly he treated the soldiers, but I was not sure what the training for white soldiers was like, so I did not know whether it was normal or he was just being cruel. On the other hand, Shaw was treating them like that because it was his responsibility to train them, and if they weren't trained well, they would be slaughtered when they had to fight for real. I still thought that Shaw was being too cruel to the soldiers, but when he was eating dinner with the division quartermaster, I realized that everyone outside of the regiment thought it was a joke; the quartermaster refused to give Shaw much-needed shoes for the soldiers and made it sound ridiculous that the black soldiers might actually be allowed to fight in a battle. This made me realize that, even though Shaw appeared to be cruel and unfair, he really had benevolent motivations; Shaw really believed in his men and expected them to be able to fight in battles with the white soldiers. He viewed them as equals with the white soldiers, so he was really just trying to prepare them as best he could so that they would survive. He was trying to train them as well as the white soldiers were trained, perhaps even better because he was virtually the only one who they could rely on to prepare themselves.
ReplyDeleteI found it noteworthy when Colonel Shaw was eating alongside the other colonels. They were talking about how the 54th company would not be able to fight and that the company was not going to be able to receive shoes. In this scene, Col. Shaw experiences a mild form of discrimination that African Americans experience on a daily basis. Shaw does not become aware that he is being treated differently until the colonel he is talking to, in short, says that the 54th company does not deserve/need shoes. After Shaw left, the other colonel calls him a "twit". This was noteworthy because it showed how affiliation with African Americans caused people to become targets to discrimination and racism. I had understood that racism was extremely prominent in the time, but it was not clear how affiliation made people a target as well.
ReplyDeleteWhat shocked me the most was Robert's lack of strength of character. He allowed his Seargeant to whip a black soldier as punishment for being away from camp without authorization. This type of punishment has such a strong negative history for these men, whether personal or symbolic, given that whips were the primary form of punishment used on slaves. Robert was against slavery, so the fact that he allowed these men to experience the same things that slaves experienced shows how little conviction he has about his beleifs. I was surprised that a man who is considered to have contributed so much to American history would act in such a way.
ReplyDeleteWhat I found confusing about the movie was colonel shaw's character. Colonel shaw at first was eager for his colored regiment. This makes him seem not racist. However when he started to train his troops he started to become harsher on them than on white troops. This culminated in the whipping scene. Whipping is a racial charged action in this movie. Many of the men were there to end the slavery and the whipping in the north. But, the north was not better. I was unsure whether colonel shaw was racist or let power go to his head. Because he also turned against his white friend and Thomas.
ReplyDeleteI found the scene when the deserter was whipped quite noteworthy. I thought it clearly displayed the racial tension that existed well into the north. We frequently consider the north as the truly excepting land where racial inequality simply does not exist, yet this scene illustrates the struggles that even the north still had not overcome.
ReplyDelete