Exactly 123 years to the day that it was dedicated, the Shaw Memorial, a monument honoring the first all-volunteer black regiment of the Union Army in the Civil War, was defaced by rioters demanding justice for African-Americans. On May 31, 1897, the monument was erected on Boston Commons to honor the 54th Massachusetts Regiment of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, who bravely attacked Confederate forces at Fort Wagner. One of the soldiers, Sgt. William Harvey Carney carried the American flag throughout the battle, never dropping it despite being shot 7 times. Carney was the first black American to win the Congressional...
