Hope and Glory Essays on the Legacy of the 54th Massachusetts
Regiment Examines the lasting influence of the most famous black
military unit of the Civil War The monument by Augustus Saint-
Gaudens to Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts
Regiment, located on Boston Common, stands at a symbolic
crossroads of American history. A reminder of the nation's
ongoing struggle over race, it captures the Civil War's higher
purpose—the end of slavery—and memorializes those black soldiers
and white officers who made common cause in the service of
freedom. The monument and the saga of the 54 th Massachusetts
remain powerful touchstones, inspiring enduring meditations such
as Robert Lowell’s poem "For the Union Dead" and the popular
film Glory. This volume brings together the best scholarship on
the history of the 54th, the formation of collective memory and
identity, and the ways Americans have responded to the story of
the regiment and the Saint-Gaudens monument. Contributors use
the historical record and popular