WILLIAM HARVEY CARNEY (1840-1908)

By using the Underground Railroad, William was able to escape slavery and flee to Massachusetts. It was there that he volunteered for the 54th Regiment under the command of Robert Shaw. He fought in the Battle of Fort Wagner where almost half the group suffered casualties. During the battle William picked up the regimental flag and saved it from being captured all the while under attack from Confederate forces. For this act of bravery he was awarded the Medal of Honor – the first Black person to ever receive the award.

QUESTION:

William and the rest of the men of the 54th were runaway slaves or, at the least, poor Blacks. Why was it so important for William to risk his life for an army that wouldn't even let him fight alongside white soldiers? Why was he proud to represent the US army?

FREDERICK DOUGLASS (1818-1895)

Douglass was a runaway slave in the period before the Civil War. Once he found his way North, Douglass began to be an active member in the abolitionist movement. His eloquent speeches such as “The Meaning of the Fourth of July for the Negro” questioned the idea of “freedom” in a country that allowed slavery. The first picture is three years after that speech (1855) in which we see Fred in a youthful manner.

When the Civil War broke out Douglass was asked by the governor of Massachusetts to help recruit volunteers for first all Black group of soldiers. Two of his sons enlisted under the command of Colonel Robert Shaw. During Reconstruction Fred continued to speak against the injustices suffered by ex-slaves in the form of Black Codes. The second photo (1879) is the more recognizable image of Douglass. By this time slavery had long been abolished and Douglass widened his scope to include other social issues.

In the last shot (1885) we see him with his second wife Helen Pitts (far right) and her sister. Helen was a feminist and met Douglass when he was a part of the
Women’s Suffrage movement. She was twenty years younger and white, and some of her family disapproved of the marriage. The feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, friends of the couple, defended the marriage.

QUESTION:

When people talk about Frederick they usually limit the conversation to his abolitionist activity. As you just read he was involved with many movements throughout his life. What kind of example does this set for people that are trying to help change the world in small steps?

DRED SCOTT (1799-1858)

Like many descendants of Africans in the US, Dred was born into slavery. Thinking that the US was a country that had “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” Dred sued his master in order to be set free. After a series of trials, his lawsuit appeared before the Supreme Court, the highest court in the country. In the case of Scott v. Sandford Dred’s freedom was…DENIED! The court ruled that he was not a person but property and therefore not a citizen of the United States as stated by the Declaration of Independence of Thomas Jefferson. This led many people to more increased tensions that would turn into a Civil War. In this photo taken in 1857 we see Dred a few months before he was finally granted freedom and then suddenly died from tuberculosis.

QUESTION:

Did you think that Dred had any idea that his case was going to become part of national history? Why did he do it? What message did the Supreme Court send to all abolitionists and slaves when it decided Dred's case?

JOHN BROWN (1800-1859)

The road to the Civil War was long and began to divide the nation between Americans from the North and South. A series of compromising laws did little to abate the tensions between the regions. As a minister and abolitionist, Brown believed in an aggressive ends to slavery. After the Kansas-Nebraska Act he went into Kansas to ensure that abolitionists had proper representation in the territory. This is what he looked like in 1856 around the time he murdered 5 white people that were pro-slavery in what began the summer of “Bleeding Kansas.” He would later go on to raid the armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia hoping to capture weapons to begin a national slave revolt. He was captured and hanged by the US government in order to set an example.

QUESTION:

Did you know that John Wilkes Boothe, the guy who killed Abe Lincoln, was at the execution of John Brown? Why did his murder get both Northerners and Southerns angry enough to start thinking about Civil War?