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Monuments and Memory | BRIdge from the Past: Art Across U.S. History

Description

How do we choose to remember past events, and what does that say about us? Mary and Gary explore the "Memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts Fifty-Fourth Regiment" by Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1884 - 1897). Shaw was a Union officer of the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, one of the first all African American military units. Nearly half of the regiment, including Shaw, would be killed, captured, or wounded at the Battle of Fort Wagner in 1863. What does the story of the monument reveal about the challenges African Americans faced fighting in the Civil War? What can we learn from this regiment's bravery?

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Published On	Feb 16, 2021
Duration	16 min
Founding Principle	Equality
Grade Level	6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Period Era	1860s, Civil War
Topic	Civil War, Military
Virtues	Courage, Honor, Contribution

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Join BRI staff members Kirk and Rachel, Mike Knapp, Chief of Historical Services at the American Battle Monuments Commission, and Sean Redmond, BRI Teacher Council Member and National WWI Museum and Monument High School Teacher Fellow, as they discuss the complexities of war. They look into what American battle monuments say about our civic values and how these ideas can be translated to the classroom.