Middle Level Lesson
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--African Americans--Study and teaching;
- Describe the U.S. Government’s responsibility to fallen soldiers and their families.
- Discover how African American military service has been memorialized over time.
Historians now stress how many African Americans achieved their own emancipation by escaping slavery and fighting for what they knew the war was about: what Lincoln called “a new birth of freedom” and the end of slavery. African Americans were eager to fight for the Union, but they were not officially allowed to enlist in the military until 1862.
This lesson explores how the Confederate burial of African American Union troops and their white officer, Robert Gould Shaw, all killed in battle, helped to ignite a national controversy over race, death, and honor. Students are asked to consider what constitutes an honorable burial and what the country owes to its fallen. Students also look at how African American military service has been memorialized over time. Students will compare grave markers, monuments, and sculptures and examine where, when, and why they were erected.
Department of History
Public Domain, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Connors, Thomas G., "Battle Cry of Freedom: Honoring African American Military Service in the Civil War [Lesson Plan]" (2016). Open Educational Resources. 317.