Wednesday, November 15, 2006

"One Gallant Rush" - The 54th Massachusetts Regiment

The characters from the Movie "Glory" which depicts the the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, the Civil War's first all-black volunteer company, demonstrate many qualities of leadership.



Robert Gould Shaw (Mathew Broderick), Sgt. Maj. John Rawlins (Morgan Freeman) and Private Trip (Denzel Washington) all demontrate leadership qualities in many different ways.



Discuss some events, actions or character traits where these characters showed leaderhsip.

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21 comments:

Anonymous said...

In the movie "Glory" Robert Gould Shawd is the one person who shows the most leadership. My first impression of him was that he was a little whimp. He earns the respect of his regiment in many ways. One way that is very obvious is the fact that he treats everyone equal no matter what. He doesnt show any favoritism towards anyone. Another thing that he did was to not accept pay unless their regiment was payed equally like the other regular white troops. What really proved me wrong about him being a whimp is that at the end of the movie he gathers in a lot of bravery(which i thought he didnt have) and charges at the conferderates and gets shot almost like 50cent. Denzel shows leadership in the movie when he refuses to accept the amount of pay that is offered to them . He isthe one who starts speaking up against it. Morgan Freeman really didnt show much leadership in the movie. Freeman just showed leadership when he encourages everyone. But overall he didnt do much to me. Shawd is the real leader in the 54th regiment.

Anonymous said...

Robert Gould Shawd shows leadership when he gets the shoes from the fat human for the regiment. Morgan Freeman shows leadership by earning the stripes and ranking higher than some of the other humans. He also leads by slapping Denzel Washington in the face and telling him how he acts. Denzel Washington displays leadership by telling all humans in the paycheck lines if they don't get full pay they won't accept any pay. Fredrick Douglass shows leadership by being a free human.

Anonymous said...

Thai- Robert Shaw showed leadership by being able to command a black regiment to the point where they had respect for him. He could have just led the troop like any other white man in his position, but he also took the time to care for their extreme needs and put himself in the same boat as them. He showed this when he announced that no one would recieve a paycheck due to the unfare wages given to black soldiers.
Tip showed leadership by encourageing others to rebel agains the low stipend. He said," come on everybody, tear it up,"refering to the paychecks. He also showed leadership when he made the decision to carry the flag once Robert Shaw was killed. He took on the responsibility of leading the 54 out of his own free will.
Morgan Freeman's character(forgot the name)showed leadership by humbling himself when the white man from the other regiment verbally asaulted Tip and him. Instead of using bron to settle the argument, he realized he had to set an example for the rest of 54. So he restrained Tip from physically harming the other soldier and bit his tounge.

Anonymous said...

Many characters showed leadership in the movie "Glory". Robert Gould Shaw is a character that showed the most leadership through out the movie. He was able to lead a regiment full of colored people and gain their respect. He stood up for his regiment and made sure they were properly clothed. Also when all the men in the regiment tore up their pay, so did Gould himself. He also showed a great deal of bravery at the end of the movie when he charged at the confederates with the US flag. He gets shot many times until he dies but he still had the courage to charge at them.

Anonymous said...

At first when I seen Robert Shaw I thought that he was not meant for a leadership role. However, when he took care for the needs of the soldiers for example getting them the pair of shoes, uniforms, and leading them to the war that they wanted to fight. In addition, he showed leadership in treating all of the soldiers similar and showing no favoritism towards the soldiers and more important he was the one who faced the confederates and got shot first like a real leader showing an example. As for Private Trip, he showed leadership at the end when he stood up and grabbed the flag charging towards the confederates as well. John Rawlins showed leadership by not arguing or fighting with the white men when they insulted Trip and himself.

Anonymous said...

In "Glory" Shawd is the man who demonstrated the most leadership. He had a goal set to, do the job right and he made sure that that goal was acheived by showing great leadership towards the soldiers. There were many times that the soldiers may not have agreed with what Shwad did, but at the end I think they appreciated him. In one scene Shawd didn't allow the men to take the checks because of the unfair payment. This really showed how much he cared for the soldiers.Another man who I thnk was an example of leadership was Morgan Freedman. Morgan was the man that kept a lot stuff in place and kept the men in order when Shawd wasn't around. There was a scene when Denzel Washington tried to intimidate one of the other soldiers, and Morgan stepped in to sort of put Denzel in his place.

Anonymous said...

"Glory" demonstrated the importance of leadership in many ways through several characters. I think that Morgan Freeman's character showed the most leadership in the entire movie. Robert Shawd showed some leadership, but he was reluctant to do so throughout most of the movie. There was a lot of pressure on him when he was nominated to be in charge of the regiment in front of all of those people. To me he actually seemed somewhat prejudiced against blacks and overcame that by the end of the movie. There's something to be said for just doing things out of obligation. What obligations did Morgan Freeman have other than to fight for what was right? He showed leadership in battle, and when he broke up the fight between Denzel and that white soldier. Denzel didn't show much leadership in the movie until ten seconds before he died. His protest against the military salary was entirely self-righteous, just like everything else he said in the movie. The way Denzel was looking at Shawd suggested that he was just trying to push Shawd's buttons. MORGAN FREEMAN didn't refuse his pay until that man sitting at the table insulted him. Not to mention Denzel got served something awful when (who?) MORGAN FREEMAN slapped him in the face and showed him what's what after NOT showing leadership and taunting Thomas. To me, standing amung your peers and motivating them like that is better leadership than simply giving orders. Plus, Morgan Freeman lived longer than all the other people mentioned in this blog. Buuuuurn.

klkatz said...

Guys... His name is Robert Gould Shaw...there is no "D" in his name.

Anonymous said...

Robert Gould Shaw (Mathew Broderick), Sgt. Maj. John Rawlins (Morgan Freeman) and Private Trip (Denzel Washington) all demontrated leadership in the movie "Glory." The main leadership role I want to speak of is Sgt. Maj. John Rawlins. He demonstrated leadership through his higher ranking and also just because it was in him to lead and not follow. The main event throughout the movie where i thought he demonstrated the most leadership was when Private Trip was starting a fight with one of the other soldiers and instead of Sgt. Maj. Rawlins standing and laughing at the humor in this, Sgt. Rawlins stood up and took it to himself to be a leader and stop the fight. This took may have also took courage to do this in front of the other soldiers. He was standing up for what he believed in and this is one of my favorite parts of the movie for him doing so.

adonis said...

In the movie I thought the way Ivan thought. I thought Robert Gould Shaw. was wimp. But through out the movie he did some things that a real leader does. A good example of leadership is when the character played by Dezil Washington, told the other blacks soldiers to not take that little pay because they are just black. At the end of that ralley, Shawd tore his check to. Shaw also made sure his man got proper shoes to wair around. I also like to disagree with Ivan that Morgan did show some leadership. I think that it was real hard at that time for a black man to lead his man. He didn't do much but he did enough like put Denzel in his place. He also moved moved up in the ranking, made sure that his man didn't get into a big fight with the white soldiers, he was not a big wimp in the battle (especially when Shaw got shot for showing leadership). I don't think it was really leadership when Denzel got up and got the flag when Shaw got shot, I think that he just saw what a great job Shawd did and he thought it was the right thing to do.

Anonymous said...

there was many shows of leadership and comradery in the movie "Glory". Shaw of course showed much aptitude with leadership just by the way he trained his troops. he gave up some of his heart(basically) when he let his friend get beaten to a pulp during basic training, by giving up his pay, by sticking his neck out for the regiment when they had supply issues, etc. he obviously cares about the sucess of the regiment. Denzel showed signs of leadership by making the regiment bond together behind him in his protest of the paycut. it takes much skill and character to make a group of men join you in ripping up something that important. morgan shows a different type of leadership yet it has the same effect as denzel's leadership. he lead the troops with care and compassion. he opened his heart for his men. this shows courae and leadership. yet all these characters had instances where they showed signs of cowardice and bad leadership. shaw when he would put aside his morals just to not get court marshalled. also, when he did a horrible job leading them in the charge. it was very selfish of him to charge first and allow his regiment to lose their commander. denzel showed many character flaws but those were all rooted of of how others treated him so you cant blame him. morgan showed weakness when he allowed the white soldiers that bad mouthed him to get away when they should have obviously been brought up on charges of insubordination. he did it because it wasn't a black mans place to be ordering a white man but, in the military, it is about aptitude and rank not race or beliefs. you never disrespect a higher rank and that man did just that yet got away with it. the wusy glasses dude was just pretending to be a leader and did not grow for the entire movie. he learned through punishment but that just teaches you not to do certain things it does not teach you to DO certain things. a good leader is always learnings things to DO his entire life. he was learning what not to do so he didn't get punished that is not leadership; that is cowardice.

Anonymous said...

Leadership in the movie "Glory" was showed by Shaw the most. He lead the regiment to victory in the first battle, but more importantly, he got off his horse and faught in the front of the regiment at the attack on Fort Wagner. Morgan Freeman's Character shows leadership by constantly telling Denzel's Character how he should behave and think. And Denzel's Character shows leadership himself when he rallies the troops to tear up their checks!

Anonymous said...

In the movie "Glory",
from my perspective i saw
Robert Gould Shaw as an inspiring leader. When the soldiers were tearing up their paychecks, he along with them, tore up his too because the pay was not equal.
He was couragious and brave during battles, and he led his regiment well. He was friends and spoke to all the members of his regiment.
He knew what and when to do everything.
Another leadership role I identified was Morgan Freeman, he encouraged all his fellow black soldiers and he earned the stripes and received a high ranking position. He stood above all the soldiers to stopped fights and arguements, and he even slapped Denzel`s character.

Anonymous said...

Denzel's character, i would say, showed the most laedership throughout the movie. There were a number of things that he did, that made alot of people in the movie stand up, from making that snow flake dude man-up, to giving the soldiers courage and the feeling of the need to fight at the end of the movie. I think he really stood up to the plate, and kind of lead the way, although he couldn't do it alone. Mogan freeman's character helped denzel realize a few things and helped him grow up and stop acting ignorant, he was needed and showed laedership skills as well.

also, the guy who plaied ferris bueller in the movie. He didn't have to train the black men. He could have resigned his position or left when that thing got out about how the black soldiers including the commander in charge would be killed after the war or if they did anything stupid. But no, he didn't, he didn't let them down. He stood up to the plate also.

that is all

Anonymous said...

each of this three leaders showed some kind of leadership position.But Robert Gould Shaw,was more effective.He treated the black regiment with respect by providing shoes, clothing and more.he treated them equally,like the unfair payment and the shoes problem. shaw believed in them to apoint where he stood up for them.And for Denzel, he did not give part till the end. My thought on him, he didn't care about anybody. And everything he did was for himself then he admited that he had nobody to depend on. However Morgan showed more leadership because he knew better than Denzel but not fully till he got the position to control that when he acted on it

Faux Pas Bakery said...

wow im really late on this comment...but

let's see of course Shaw is a leader because he takes charge of the 54th

Denzel's charachter was a leader because of what he did with the pay cuts

Freeman's character was a leader because he picks his battle's he doesnt let anything bother him and that is a great leadership skill...

I can't think of anything else right now...
Oh wait...Thomas.He shows leadership in the battle, he takes the flag and charges up the hill...WOW!
ok I'm done

Anonymous said...

I think that all of them showed leadership in different ways. I feel that Morgan Freeman was a leader and a follower. He made his own judgements and decisions, while at the same time listened to the leader. Denzel lead because he expressed what he believed in and wasn't afraid to tell it. The captain(ferris bueller) lead by standing up what he believed in and did not abuse his power like the other captain did.

Anonymous said...

You're all stupid...this movie is 99% fabrication. Do you really think that the 54th "volunteered" for a suicide mission?

As a historical fact, they were an all black regiment in a white man's army and they were sent off to the slaughter to soften up the fort for later attacks. This movie is very good but it dances around that fact by making it out like it was voluntary and therefore honorable.

klkatz said...

Anonymous... thanks for reading. But please realize that you just called an outstanding group of high school juniors stupid.

i would delete your comment but the teacher in me wants to use it as a lesson.

Anonymous said...

i love the movie glory i think it shows blacks and whites how we have come together and through hard times but my favorite character is Pvt.Trip, even though he didnt like white people he starts to like them and creates a relationship with his troops as a family to him even when he didnt have any1

jl said...

lol

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