Grade Level: 4–12

Using the history of the first African-American Regiment and the memorial by Augustus Saint-Gaudens as inspiration, students will understand and reflect upon the role of public commemorative sculpture in the United States. Then, they will research local monuments and draft designs for one in their hometown.

About the Artist 

Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848–1907) was an influential sculptor best known for creating public monuments. In the post–Civil War United States, he received many commissions to commemorate state officials and soldiers. His sculptures were known for their realism and symbolic elements. These memorials helped shape public memory and influence how we think about American history today. 

About the Artwork 

A young drummer boy plays a steady rhythm. He gazes ahead, his face set and determined. The beat of his drums beckons the soldiers forward as they march off to fight in the Civil War. 

This work commemorates the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, one of the first Black regiments created shortly after the Emancipation Proclamation. Encouraged by abolitionist leaders like Frederick Douglass, whose own sons joined the 54th, Black men enlisted from as far away as Canada and the Caribbean. 

In 1863, the regiment led an attack on Fort Wagner in South Carolina. There were heavy casualties. Their commander, the white abolitionist Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, was among the first to die, and half of the men lost their lives or were captured. Their bravery was widely reported and inspired many to join the fight for freedom.  

Discussion Questions and Activities

Close Looking

Take a quiet minute to look carefully at The Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial. 

• What do you see? Use words or phrases to describe any aspect of the work, listing only what you observe with your eyes. Include as many details as you can.
• Imagine walking alongside these men. What would you feel, hear, and see?

Think Further

• What thoughts or feelings come to mind as you look at this artwork?
• Consider the historical context. What might we learn about the Civil War by observing this sculpture?
• Consider the composition of the sculpture: the arrangement of the soldiers, their faces and uniforms, the horse, the angelic figure overhead, and the text. How does the artist Saint-Gaudens convey the historical significance of the regiment through his choices? How does he convey both the individuality and unity of the regiment? 
• Consider the topic of memorials. What memorials have you visited in your city or state? How do they compare and connect to The Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial? 

Create

• If you could memorialize an important person or event through sculpture, who or what would you choose? Why?
• Consider the artistic choices you will make. What will be your memorial’s design, materials, symbols, text, and location?
• Sketch your memorial, noting your artistic choices. Saint-Gaudens sketched his ideas for The Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial. 

Guided Practice

• Artists often use horizontal and vertical lines in works of art to make them look stable and still. Take a look at the lines in this sculpture. How would you describe them? Where did the artist use diagonal lines? See the way the soldiers and horse look as if they are moving? Saint-Gaudens used diagonal lines in their bodies to make them look as if they are actually marching.
• These soldiers were among the first African Americans who joined the Civil War in the fight to end slavery. When the South heard that African Americans were becoming soldiers, Confederate officials issued a proclamation that African Americans caught in uniform would be sold into slavery and white officers commanding them would be put to death. Knowing the challenges they faced, what character traits can you say the men of the Fifty-fourth Regiment possessed?
• Why are these men heroes?

Dive Deeper

1. Students will understand and reflect upon the role of public commemorative sculpture in the United States by creating their own memorial sculpture:

2. Ask students to contribute to a list of ways we remember public or civic events. Some include: parades, sculptures, ritual celebrations, mosaics, murals, songs, slogans, legends, or insignia.

3. What kind of public moments and public figures do we commemorate? Examples are New Year’s, birthdays of national leaders, religious events, or public service (veterans, presidents).

4. How do we remember the Civil War? Examples are history books, television programs, family stories and mementos, Memorial Day and Veterans' Day, songs, or art.

5. Public sculpture is a way of remembering. The Shaw Memorial commemorates:

• the first African-American regiment of the North and the fifth black regiment in the Civil War
• the bravery of the Massachusetts Fifty-fourth Regiment and its leaders in storming Fort Wagner, South Carolina, when the odds were against them
• their sacrifice in battle (281 of 600 died), which inspired many more African Americans to volunteer as soldiers (a total of nearly 180,000)
• the regiment's courage in joining the Union troops, for blacks risked being sold into slavery if captured in uniform by Confederate soldiers, and white officers risked execution.

6. Study the Shaw Memorial. Look at the relief sculpture created by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Study it overall. Study its details. What does the memorial represent? Is this a specific moment? Why did the artist choose to depict the group in this way?

7. Find memorials in your town. Students should make a list of local monuments using the internet and local resources. They should sketch or photograph the monuments, find photos of them, visit some of them, and create a visual portfolio in your classroom or for your school. As a class, assemble the findings and depictions of these local monuments. You'll be surprised at how much is known, but not shared, about neighborhood public sculpture.

Extension

As a class, select an event (historical or contemporary) to commemorate with a public sculpture. Call your local planning office. If your town is in the process of planning a memorial, you might participate by choosing that subject or event. Submit class ideas.

Form small design groups. Draw designs for each group's ideas. Remind students to integrate subjects, themes, and symbols into their work to communicate the intended meaning behind the memorial. Select materials such as paper, paper mache, clay, or wood. Build one project, as a class, or build each group's idea.

VA:Cn10.1.8 Make art collaboratively to reflect on and reinforce positive aspects of group identity.

VA:Cn11.1.8 Distinguish different ways art is used to represent, establish, reinforce, and reflect group identity.

VA:Cr1.1.8 Document early stages of the creative process visually and/or verbally in traditional or new media.

VA:Cr1.2.7 Develop criteria to guide making a work of art or design to meet an identified goal.

VA:Cr2.1.8 Demonstrate willingness to experiment, innovate, and take risks to pursue ideas, forms, and meanings that emerge in the process of art-making or designing.

VA:Cr2.3.8 Select, organize, and design images and words to make visually clear and compelling presentations.

VA:Cr3.1.8 Apply relevant criteria to examine, reflect on, and plan revisions for a work of art or design in progress.

VA:Re7.1.7 Explain how the method of display, the location, and the experience of an artwork influence how it is perceived and valued.

VA:Re7.2.7 Analyze multiple ways that images influence specific audiences.

VA:Re8.1.8 Interpret art by analyzing how the interaction of subject matter, characteristics of form and structure, use of media, art-making approaches, and relevant contextual information contributes to understanding messages or ideas and mood conveyed.