Library Videos of the Week, February 28, 2011.

The Massachusetts 54th Colored Infantry, a Reel Deal Productions film for American Experience; produced and directed by Jacqueline Shearer; narrated by Morgan Freeman. Story by Jacqueline Shearer.
Library Call Number: E540.N3 M37 2006.
     The American Experience presents the true story of one of the first African-American regiments fighting in the Civil War. Formed in Boston, Massachusetts, under the direction of white officers, the 54th earned fame in the futile attack on Fort Wagner, one of the Confederate army’s strongholds along the South Carolina coast. Through early photos, painting, dramatic readings from diaries and newspaper accounts, the film documents the true, heroic and tragic story of the 54th’s part in the fight for Union.  Look for this video in the 5th floor collection.

Glory, starring Matthew Broderick, Morgan Freeman, Andre Braugher and Denzel Washington, directed by Edward Zwick.
Library Call Number: E656 .G66 2000.
      The drama based on the 54th stars Broderick as Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, a son of prominent abolitionists, who volunteers to lead one of the Union’s 1sr black regiments, though he is told the enemy have orders to kill white officers of black troops on sight. Taking a raw group of runaway slaves and freedmen, Shaw and his Sergeant train the 54th into a fighting unit fighting the bigotry of the enemy and his own army. Superb performances by Broderick and Andre Braugher as his lifetime friend, Thomas, are overshadowed by the rock-solid Morgan Freeman as the Sergeant Major of the unit and Oscar-winning Denzel Washington as an escaped slave turned Union soldier.                                                                Look for this video soon in the 4th floor Browsing collection.