The overall trajectory of Glory hews closely to the historical record; the script relies heavily on Shaw’s letters home during his time in the army (a title card opening the movie refers to the correspondence.) Over the course of just over two hours, viewers move from Battle of Antietam to the regiment’s military training to the deep South of Georgia and South Carolina. The movie's climax, involving the 54th’s failed attack at Battery Wagner on July 18, 1863, depicts a final victory over adversity and a collective sacrifice around the flag. Shaw is killed attempting to lead his men in a final assault as is Trip, who falls having finally embraced the regimental colors.
When Glory was first released in 1989, it challenged a deeply entrenched popular memory of the war that centered the conflict around brave white soldiers and left little room to grapple with the tough questions of slavery and emancipation. The film’s most important contribution is its success in challenging this narrow interpretation by reminding white Americans of the service of roughly 200,000 Black Americans in Union ranks and their role in helping to win the war and end slavery.
By 1863, the outcome of the war was far from certain. Following the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1 of that year, President Abraham Lincoln authorized the raising of Black troops to help defeat the Confederacy. There was no more enthusiastic supporter of this policy than Massachusetts Governor John Andrew, who immediately commenced with the raising of the 54th Massachusetts, along with two other all-black units.
Shaw was a young 25-year-old at the time, and Broderick ably emotes the challenges the colonel faced overcoming his own racial prejudices while in command of the regiment, despite his family’s abolitionist credentials. Yet the movie falls short in capturing the extent of Shaw’s ambivalence toward being offered the command of the all-black regiment. In the movie, it’s played as a question that demanded but a few moments of reflection, when in reality Shaw initially rejected the governor’s commission citing concerns about whether commanding black soldiers would advance his own career and reputation in the army. His letters home throughout the first half of the war reveal more ambiguity about emancipation than the film acknowledges.
In a letter written to his mother following the battle of Antietam, Shaw questioned Lincoln’s issuance of the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. “For my part,” Shaw wrote, “I can’t see what practicalgood it can do now. Wherever our army has been, there remain no slaves, and the Proclamation will not free them where we don’t go.”