This weekend I head to upstate New York for a conference sponsored by John Brown Lives! On Friday evening I will host a public screening of the movie Glory at the Palace Theater in Lake Placid for the general public and the following day will do a workshop on the movie for area history teachers. [There are still slots available if you are in the area and interested. You do not need to be a teacher to attend.] I am putting together a little packet for each teacher that includes a selection of Col. Robert Gould Shaw’s letters that will hopefully help them to think beyond the movie.
This little passage to wife Annie caught my eye:
There is a blue-eyed, yellow haired, white-skinned, black preacher out here, who has great influence among the blacks. He wants to go as chaplain, and I think I shall take him; he looks so much like a white man, that I don’t believe there would be much prejudice against it. I think I should care very little for public opinion, if it did no harm to the regiment. It would be out of the question to have any black, field or line, officers at present, because of public sentiment. It ruined the efficiency of the Louisiana coloured regiments…. [March 17, 1863]
There is quite a bit to unpack in this brief passage.
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Bummer’s favorite part of the passage is, “I think I shall take him; he looks so much like a white man, that I don’t believe there would be much prejudice against it.” Those folks were certainly attempting a radical change. Col. Shaw’s is trying, but his final comment, “It ruined the efficiency of the Louisiana coloured regiments”, betrays the politics, public opinion and military mindset of the time. Have a safe trip this weekend.
Bummer