Artifact Spotlight: The Massachusetts 54th
The photo above Dr. Brown’s mantle may be familiar to those who have visited Boston, Massachusetts. This photo depicts a relief of the the Robert Gould Shaw and Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial, located across Beacon Street from the State House in Boston. But why would Dr. Brown have a photo of a memorial in Boston hanging prominently in her North Carolina home?
Although African Americans served in both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, northern racist sentiments kept African Americans from taking up arms for the United States in the early years of the Civil War. However, a clause in Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation made possible the organization of African American volunteer regiments. The first documented African American regiment formed in the north was the Massachusetts 54th Volunteer Infantry, lead by Robert Gould Shaw. African American men came to enlist from every region of the north, and from as far away as the Caribbean
Dr. Brown heavily emphasized Black history at Palmer, offering it as a subject as early as 1925, so it is not surprising that a scene from Black history would be prominently featured in her home. Since the image focuses on the regiment’s white leader, Col. Shaw, it was a safe choice of art for her home in terms of white donors for the school. Dr. Brown was also raised in Cambridge, just a few miles from Boston. This memorial was likely a common sight for her.
