Topics for Discussion

1. Although President Lincoln initially defined the North's goals in the Civil War to preserve the Union, the circumstances of war forced the Union to confront other issues, especially the status and role of ex-slaves and free blacks. How does Glory describe those unexpected circumstances? For example, in the opening scenes at Antietam, how does the movie depict battle conditions? How might the deadliness of such battles affect northern attitudes toward enlisting black troops?

2. What does the movie say about specific issues that influenced the creation of the 54th Massachusetts? Among these topics, consider Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, General Hunter's efforts to use contrabands as soldiers, Governor Andrew's desire to field an African American regiment, and Frederick Douglass's justification for creating a black military force.

3. Why were all the officers of the 54th Massachusetts white men? What were their qualifications for leadership? How are their backgrounds portrayed in the film? How did Shaw and his comrades come to sympathize with African Americans, free and slave? Why does Shaw's mother praise the ideas of the writer Ralph Waldo Emerson? Would Emerson favor the arming of blacks?

How do white officers outside the 54th Massachusetts, such as Col. Montgomery, view the black soldiers? Why does Montgomery shoot a black soldier at Darien? Why, in the film, would Colonel Robert Gould Shaw hesitate to take command of such soldiers?

When in U.S. history did black officers acquire the right to exercise command over white soldiers in battle?

How do the ordinary white soldiers in Glory react to the enlistment and arming of black soldiers? Does the movie depict a change in their attitude during the course of the war? Why or why not? What are the white Union soldiers fighting for? Are they fighting for the same things as the black soldiers? Why do black soldiers place such importance on the blue uniforms? What do these uniforms symbolize?

4. How does Glory portray the raw black recruits? Why were so many blacks uneducated and illiterate?

5. Does the movie depict a distinct African American culture? How does the movie show differences of language among blacks and between blacks and whites? What do these differences signify? Do African Americans reveal their religious beliefs? What is the style and content of their sermons? How does the movie introduce African American music and song?

6. How does the movie portray African American women? What roles are shown? What roles are not shown? Why and why not?

7. How does the movie present the relief efforts of northern philanthropists working among the ex-slaves? What lessons do these northerners try to teach? What is the point of the song the ex-slaves are shown to be singing ("My Country 'tis of Thee")?

8. Why was the U.S. government hesitant to arm black troops? How, according to Glory, did the Confederate government respond to the arming of black troops? And how did President Lincoln respond to the Confederate threats?

How did the northern public react to the arming of blacks? In another fictional film, The Gangs of New York (2002), the arming of black soldiers leads to civilian riots against the new draft laws of 1863. Is there any indication of such anti-black feelings among the whites in Glory?

9. Why does Col. Shaw say he is fighting? Why is Shaw so eager to have his men engage in combat?

10. Why did the Union army offer lower pay for black soldiers than for white soldiers? Why in the movie do the black soldiers reject this difference in pay?

Eventually Congress responded to the protests of the 54th Massachusetts and provided equal pay for blacks, but unlike the presentation of this issue in the film, it was Col. Shaw, not the black soldiers, who initiated the protests. Why would the movie alter this historical topic in this way?

11. What other topics raised in this film reveal the attitudes of present-day audiences? For instance, there is no evidence that a racist quartermaster refused to issue shoes to the black recruits. Why would filmmakers in 1989 insert such a story? So, too, there was no religious meeting the night before the attack on Fort Wagner; why would that scene be added to the movie?

12. What does the movie suggest about the end of slavery and the acceptance of a multiracial society? According to this film, who is responsible for the creation of a multiracial nation and multiracial citizenship?