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Yesterday, I visited the grave of Isaac Prince, a Black Vermonter who fought in the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, the Civil War unit celebrated in the movie "Glory."
Black people fought, and fought hard, for their own freedom. But Emancipation is so often portrayed as a gift from benevolent white Americans to helpless Black Americans. And Black participation in the Civil War is often simply erased...
... whether by showing them as passive ( https://www.reneeater.com/on-monuments-blog/2020/7/1/on-the-removal-of-statues-freedmens-memorial-to-abraham-lincoln) or simply denying their existence ( https://www.vpr.org/post/brattleboro-students-want-honor-black-soldiers-left-civil-war-monument#stream/0).
That's why I found the Prince's grave so moving. He was injured in the war, returned to farming in Vermont, and died in 1898. He was buried in the "free ground" of Burlington's Lakeview Cemetery - the pauper's field. His grave was marked only with a number, not even his name.
You can see that block under the snow to the left of his tombstone - erected only later, when someone recognized his service.
That tombstone was overgrown and sinking into the ground a few years ago, when two Vermonters restored it ( https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2016/09/04/history-space-restoring-civil-war-gravestones/89588750/). Now, once more, you can remember Prince.
When I walked across the pauper's field toward Price's grave, the flag next to it started fluttering as if to get my attention. When I knelt down in the snow to photograph it, I thought that this was exactly what the people who put up so many of America's monuments feared:
I was a white woman honoring a Black man, recognizing his power and his struggle. This is the equality American monuments deny - the "miscegenation" decried in their dedication speeches.
Maybe there's a 54th Massachusetts veteran buried near you. I recommend a visit to say thank you: https://www.findagrave.com/virtual-cemetery/459769?page=3#sr-145440090
Many places to learn more about Black Union War soldiers, but one interesting starting point is @PhUsct's piece here: https://www.gothamcenter.org/blog/the-darker-side-of-civil-war-service-for-african-american-new-york-families
