Two months later, Shaw and one-third of his men would be dead, many of them on the earth rampart of Fort Wagner, one of the forts protecting Charleston, South Carolina, the bastion of Confederate secession. But even in defeat the brave 54th legitimized the idea of blacks in the military and, according to President Lincoln, was a turning point in the war.

Film still, Glory (Edward Zwick, 1989), photograph courtesy of Photofest