On this day, President Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 troops to suppress the Southern rebellion at the outset of the Civil War. However, the Lincoln administration explicitly rejected Black volunteers from serving in the Union Army. For nearly two years, Black Americans petitioned, protested, and advocated for the right to fight for their own freedom. As one Black humorist famously remarked, they were struggling for the right “to be kilt.” Their perseverance eventually led to the establishment of Black regiments like the famed 54th Massachusetts.
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