Bronze relief by Augustus Saint-Gaudens commemorating Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, the first formally recognized black regiment in the Union. The Memorial is borders the Boston Common and Beacon Street across from the front steps of the Massachusetts State House in Boston. The memorial took the artist 13 years to complete. It was dedicated on May 31, 1897. Visible in the upper corner are the Latin words "Omnia relinquit servare rempublicam," which translates to "He relinquished everything to serve the Republic." This photograph was taken in August 2017.
Reverse of the Robert Gould Shaw and 54th Massachusetts Regiment Memorial in Boston. The text reads, "To the Fifty-fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Infantry The White Officers taking life and honor in their hands cast in their lot with men of despised race unproved in war and risked death as inciters of servile insurrection if taken prisoners besides encountering all the common perils of camp march and battle. The Black Rank and File volunteered when disaster clouded the union cause served without pay for eighteen months till given that of white troops faced threatened enslave- ment if captured were brave in action patient under heavy and dangerous labors and cheerful among hardships and privations. Together they gave to the nation and the world undying proof that Americans of African descent possess the pride courage and devotion of the patriot soldier. One hundred and eighty thousand such Americans enlisted under the union flag in MDCCCLXIII–MDCCCLXV." This photograph was taken in August 2017.
