Join us Tuesday, May 11, 2027, at 7 p.m. CT for an exciting conversation with author Kevin M. Levin on his latest book, A Glorious Fate: The Life and Legacy of Colonel Robert Shaw.
Robert Gould Shaw (1837–1863) is best known as the heroic colonel who led the 54th Massachusetts Infantry—one of the first regiments of Black soldiers in the Civil War—in its famous ill-fated charge against Confederate Fort Wagner on July 18, 1863. Shaw’s sacrifice has been commemorated in monuments, books, and the award-winning film Glory. But before he became a martyr for the Union cause and emancipation, Shaw was a privileged young man who showed little interest in the reform movements that defined his parents' lives or in the moral crisis over slavery that was tearing the nation apart. Volunteering to serve as a duty, he awakened gradually and fitfully to the demands of conscience and command. Only in death was Shaw transformed into the champion for freedom his abolitionist parents hoped he would be.
The first biography of Shaw in a quarter century, A Glorious Fate traces his transformation from a rebellious son into one of the Civil War’s most celebrated heroes. Acclaimed historian Kevin M. Levin also reveals the sacrifice and service of the African American men who fought and died for their freedom afresh through Shaw’s eyes. Though Shaw never fully reconciled his own racial prejudices, Levin shows how the Civil War changed the young colonel as it did the nation.
Kevin M. Levin is an award-winning historian and educator based in Boston and has taught American history on both the high school and college levels. He has written and lectured widely on the Civil War Era, historical memory, and public history including A Glorious Fate and Black Confederates: The Civil War’s Most Persistent Myth. Over the years he has led numerous professional development workshops for history teachers at Ford's Theatre, the National Park Service, Massachusetts Historical Society and Yale's Gilder-Lehrman Center. He currently serves on the board of directors of the National Council for History Education.
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