""By inaccurately depicting the 54th as a regiment of former slaves, Glory reveals the deeper truth that blacks in general were not the natural slaves that Southerners believed them to be and that abolitionists feared that they might be. “Who asks now in doubt and derision, ’Will the Negro fight?’” observed one abolitionist after the assault of the 54th against Battery Wagner. "
This is an excerpt from an editorial on Asheville University
Co-Authored with Trey Honeycutt
Glory wrongly portrays the 54th regiment of Massachusetts as runaway slaves but this turns out to be a good thing. What it does, is it shows us that African Americans are not "natural" slaves, contrary to the beliefs of southerners of that time. A questioning of the battle readiness of the black soldiers was silenced after the attack on the Battery Wagner.
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