![]()
Frederick Douglass (1818 -1895) an American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing. He said, "once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pockets, and there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship in the United States." During the Civil War, Douglass helped the Union by serving as a recruiter for the 54th Massachusetts Regiment.
![]() National Park Service ![]() James E Reed, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University. William Harvey Carney, Sergeant of the 54th Massachusetts Colored Volunteer Infantry, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of Fort Wagner in July 1863. During the advance, Carney was wounded but still went on. When the color-bearer was shot, Carney grabbed the flagstaff and planted it in the parapet, while the rest of his regiment stormed the fortification. When his regiment was forced to retreat, he was wounded two more times while he carried the colors back to Union lines. He did not relinquish it until he handed it to another soldier of the 54th.
![]() Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division |