Workers inspect the top cornice stone as it is lifted from the Shaw 54th Regiment memorial opposite the Statehouse, Friday, July 17, 2020, in Boston. Amid the national reckoning on racism, the memorial to the first Black regiment of the Union Army, the Civil War unit popularized in the movie "Glory, is facing scrutiny. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
Amid the national reckoning on racism, the memorial to the first Black regiment of the Union Army, the Civil War unit popularized in the movie "Glory, is facing scrutiny. White commander out front; Black soldiers in the background. It’s the first thing you see.”Amid the national reckoning on racism, the Shaw memorial is the latest and, perhaps, one of the more curious to receive scrutiny. Unlike other felled monuments, the work by American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens isn’t a paean to the Confederacy. Saint-Gaudens spent 14 years creating a richly detailed bas relief, using Black men of different ages as models for his realistic soldiers.
