'No power on earth can deny': African-American soldiers are subject of MLK Day programming at the Atlanta History Center

Medal of Honor recipient William Carney

Sgt. Maj. Milton Holland took command of his company of the 5^th U.S. Colored Troops when all its white officers were killed or wounded. In the 54^th Massachusetts’ assault made famous in the movie “Glory,” Sgt. William Carney planted a flag atop the enemy’s fort and safeguarded its return to Federal lines.

Nicholas Biddle was left scarred after a mob in Baltimore attacked Pennsylvania troops. And Hubbard D. Pryor escaped slavery to trade his ragged clothing for a uniform with the 44^th USCT.

These courageous African-Americans and other who served with or aided the Federal army during the Civil War will provide inspiration for those attending special MLK Day programming at the Atlanta History Center on Jan 20.

Among the highlights coming with free admission that day at the AHC and the Margaret Mitchell House are the touring exhibition “Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow” and a play in which an activist in 1963 imagines a conversation with four iconic freedom fighters.

The student-oriented soldiers experience will take place hourly between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. at the history center’s renowned Civil War permanent exhibit, “Turning Point.”

“Take on the role of a real soldier who fought in the Civil War for the United States Colored Troops after volunteering for duty in 1863,” says the program description. “Presented with various real-life scenarios, you must make vital decisions that could affect your life and well-being.”

Biographical sheet at the Atlanta History Center

Museum interpreters will lead the immersive experience, said Joanna Arrietta, director of author and family programs at the AHC, which is in the city’s Buckhead neighborhood. She said the talks also will include the 8^th, 55^th and other USCT regiments.

Arrietta says: “We prioritize children participating first and allow adults to participate and follow along within our space constraints. Educators lead the group; each participant is given a profile sheet of a USCT soldier, and travels through the exhibit in role, through the lens of the USCT experience of the Civil War. Scenarios such as everyday soldier life (pay, medical access) and combat (the Battle of the Crater) are explored in this interactive walking tour.”

Milton Holland

Students at first are given a few fictionalized facts about a particular soldier but then learn their actual story as they go through the program. The handout includes a factual biographical sketch and resources for participants to learn more on their own.

Formal formation of black units followed the adoption of the Emancipation Proclamation.

About 175,000 soldiers served with the USCT, and they are credited with helping to turn the tide at several battles and campaigns in the last two years of the wear. Regiments had free men and former slaves. About 19,000 African-Americans served in the U.S. Navy.

Carney was the first African-American to receive the Medal of Honor, which also was awarded to Holland, who won distinction at Chaffin’s Farm in Virginia. You can learn more about Holland here, Carney here, Biddle here and Hubbard here.

USCT units were led by white officers and it took time for soldiers to receive pay equal to their white counterparts. They still had limited career opportunities and faced some racism within the Union army. Some freed men captured by Confederate units were sold into slavery.

(Atlanta History Center)

But they served with distinction, with soldiers earning 25 Medals of Honor and black regiments making up about 10 percent of the Federal army by the war's end. Among engagements in which they proved their courage was the July 1864 Battle of the Crater at Petersburg.

Frederick Douglass wrote of them: “Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship.”