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Freedom, Protection, Pay, and a Call to Military Duty: African American Soldiers in the Civil War

What do images of Black Americans who served during the Civil War tell us about the power of freedom and patriotism? In this episode of BRIdge From The Past, Mary explores various images depicting African Americans who served in the Union Army during the Civil War. Roughly 198,000 African American men served in the armed forces by the end of the war, and the identities of many depicted in these photographs are still unknown today. How did the Emancipation Proclamation shift the focus of the Civil War? How does this shift connect to these photographs, and why is their story essential to fully understand the war?

BRIdge from the Past African American Soldiers Handout: https://bri-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/BRIdge+Freedom%2C+Protection%2C+Pay%2C+and+a+Call+to+Military+Duty-African+American+Soldiers+in+the+Civil+War.pdf


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