In Glory (1989), Denzel Washington played Private Trip, a runaway slave who joins the 54th Massachusetts, one of the first Black regiments of the American Civil War. Directed by Edward Zwick, the film follows the regiment from its formation through its heroic assault on Fort Wagner, and Trip is its beating, defiant heart.
Washington’s performance is unforgettable in its smallest moments: the single tear that rolls down Trip’s cheek as he is flogged, and the fury with which he refuses to accept less pay than white soldiers. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the role, and it remains one of the great breakthrough performances in American film — a young actor turning a supporting part into the soul of a movie about freedom, dignity and sacrifice.