massachusetts infantry regiment, 54th (1863-1865)

Looks at the contributions of the Massachusetts 54th Colored Infantry during the American Civil War, and includes profiles of such figures as Lewis and Charles Douglass, Luis Emilio, and James Gooding.

An introduction to the Civil War battle of Morris Island, South Carolina, during which Sergeant William H. Carney became the first African American to earn a Congressional Medal of Honor by preserving the flag.

Briefly presents, in graphic novel format, the story of the African American soldiers in the 54th Massachusetts Regiment.

"Here are the life stories of George E. Stephens and James Henry Gooding, African American soldiers who fought in the Massachusetts 54th Infantry, the famous black regiment of the Civil War, and who were also the first African American war correspondents to report from the battlefield."--OCLC.

Soon after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, abolitionists began to call for the creation of black regiments. At first, the South and most of the North responded with outrage?southerners promised to execute any black soldiers captured in battle, while many northerners claimed that blacks lacked the necessary courage. Meanwhile, Massachusetts, long the center of abolitionist fervor, launched one of the greatest experiments in American history.