Share
Avid Bored Panda readers might remember the name Drew Gardner.
But at a certain point, he noticed that a big part of his subjects were white men.
The starting point for Gardners famous shoots is usually, Are they descended from people the public would know?
but this was the first time he has flipped the script.
He stayed in the service until 1870.
The descendant of David Miles Moore whom Gardner photographed is Neikoye Flowers, an elementary school student in Atlanta.
The unit, formed in Kentucky, was composed mainly of formerly enslaved black men.
The visuals were really important, he said.
To recreate this photo with descendant Deanna Walz, Drew Gardner enlisted the help of a Netflix costume designer.
My granddad has the medal at his house, Smiths descendant Kwesi Bowman said.
I wish he was here, but he just had surgery, so he couldnt make it.
Im doing this for him.
Jared Miller is not the first member of his family to dress up as his ancestor.
His son once dressed as the American Civil War soldier for a Black History Month project.
Keeping the subjects still for up to 40 sec while the exposure was made was a a real challenge!
The project has also taught the photographer that history isnt as inclusive as it could be.
Without a doubt there is not enough recognition of the part payed by black Americans in the Civil War.
They made up approximately 10 percent of the Union Army and many went to great lengths to enlist.
In many ways it is understandable as it is often a painful history, Gardner said.
And you have to study entire communities at a time.
On slave schedules, there were just tick marks on a pagethere were no names.
These video clips portray just how meticulous the creative process was
And how involved everyone was
