Buffalo Soldiers were African American soldiers who mainly served on the Western frontier following the American Civil War. In1866, six all-black cavalry and infantry regiments were created after Congress passed the Army Organization Act. Their main tasks were to help control the Native Americans of the Plains, capture cattle rustlers and thieves and protect settlers, stagecoaches, wagon trains and railroad crews along the Western front.
The soldiers of the all-black 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments were dubbed “buffalo soldiers” by the Native Americans they encountered because the soldiers’ dark, curly hair resembled the fur of a buffalo. The soldiers fought so fiercely that the Indians revered them as they did the mighty buffalo.
3 Comments
abdul shabazz
Would really have loved to have an informative video about the buffalo soldiers.
Mike Adams
This portion of history always saddens me.
The oppression of Indigenous peoples in the Americas, esp. the USA is a twin atrocity to the oppression of African Americans.
Colonizers have been trying to turn us against each other for the sum of this country’s existence. In this instance they were very successful.
Your ancestors were enslaved and brutalized, forced to turn a profit for greedy colonizers on the land that they committed genocide to steal.
Then they convinced African Americans to kill natives and protect colonists as they moved west to steal more land.
It saddens me, deeply!
Today, we see a growing alliance between indigenous activists and African American activists.
It is my hope that our peoples can continue this collaboration. That we continue to stand tall, resisting the gail of white supremacy that seems to force us, again, to the ground.
Together, we increase our sna7em, meaning spiritual power in my peoples’ language, the Lil’wat.
Marlon Jones
Led by Colonel (captain at the time) Charles Young, Ohio native.
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