Buffalo Soldiers: Fighting on Two Fronts: A Local, USA Special

PBS WESTERN RESERVE (WNEO 45.1 / WEAO 49.1):

Monday, June 12, at 10 PM
Tuesday, June 13, at 3 AM

Fusion (WNEO 45.2 / WEAO 49.2):

Saturday June 17, at 3 PM

BUFFALO SOLDIERS: FIGHTING ON TWO FRONTS explores the often-contradictory role played by the Black soldiers throughout American history, with particular emphasis on the settling of the American West and colonialism abroad. 

After the ratification of the 14th Amendment by Congress in 1868 granting full citizenship to Black men, many of them enlisted in the military. But they faced structural and social barriers to equal opportunity and fair treatment. Black soldiers helped lead the United States expansion westward; they helped build and guard transcontinental railroads and served as park rangers in places like Yosemite before the U.S. government established the National Park Service.

These Black soldiers fought bravely in the Indian Wars, the Spanish-American War, the Philippine-American War, the Mexican Punitive Expedition, World War I, World War II and the Korean War. However, the Buffalo Soldiers also participated in the subjugation of Indigenous peoples as the United States appropriated tribal land, the persecution of striking silver miners in Idaho, and against Filipinos fighting for independence during the Spanish-American War, resulting in a complicated legacy.