The 54th Volunteer Massachusetts Infantry took part in Smith Leadership Academy’s Opening Day celebration

BOSTON, August 31 -The Smith Leadership Academy Charter Public School (SLA), a 6-8 grade middle school located in the Fields Corner section of Boston, began its 2009-10 school year on August 31st to the sound of the marching feet of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment Volunteer Infantry. This Regiment was one of the United States' first African-American Civil War Regiments as well as one of the most recognized ones.

Some 216 members of the SLA student body took part in Opening Day ceremonies which serves as a welcoming tradition for students new to the school and a renewal day for returning ones who have grown to appreciate the Academy's rituals The majority of the school's students are of African-American or Caribbean-American descent.

Today, the 54th Massachusetts Regiment Volunteer Infantry functions as a reenactment group with 40 active participants including Academy faculty member Christopher Coblyn whose great, great grandfather, Eli Biddle, was an original member of the Regiment. Coblyn's father and brother also are members of today's volunteer Regiment. In January, the Regiment marched in the President Barack Obama's Inaugural Parade in Washington, D.C.

Robert Gould Shaw, a member of a prominent Boston abolitionist family, organized the regiment, and Massachusetts' Governor John A. Andrew appointed him colonel in February 1863. A month later, the 54th formed at Camp Meigs in Readville, MA. Enlistees included both former slaves and free blacks, including Lewis N. and Charles Douglass, sons of Frederick Douglass.