61: The Louisiana Native Guard, the 54th Mass...

“The only men on this beach are the dead and those that are going to die––now let’s get the hell out of here!”This is the story of D-Day, June 6, 1944. In the early hours of the morning, airborne troops land behind enemy lines in Normandy, France, fighting to secure towns, bridge ...  Show more

“Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade.”This is the story of the preparations for D-Day. In November, 1943 the “Big Three”–that is, Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin–meet in person fo ...  Show more

In the spring of 1865, with the Civil War finally over, American lawmakers began to debate whether Black soldiers would have a permanent place in the peacetime Army. Some 180,000 Black men had fought in the Union ranks, but never before in the nation’s history had they been allow ...  Show more

During the Civil War, Black people in America took the opportunity to free themselves and to serve the Union cause. At great personal risk, tens of thousands of refugees -- men, women and children -- fled Southern slave owners for Union lines. They enlisted in the Union Army and ...  Show more

President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, freeing the slaves in much of the South. But the road to freedom—true freedom—would take generations longer for most black Americans.In this new six-part series, we investigate their struggle, begi ...  Show more