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Buffalo Soldier

Copyright 2003, W. David Tarver

I first heard about the Buffalo Soldier back in 1971, while I was a high school senior in Flint Michigan. I was at my best friend Reggie Barnett’s house when he put on an album by a group called The Persuasions. The Persuasions sang all of their songs "street corner" style – no instrumental music – and they were unbelievably good. I had not heard of the group before, but I was immediately captivated by their tight harmony and vocal intensity. One song in particular caught my attention. The song was called Buffalo Soldier, and it told the story of the black army troops who fought for this country in the late 1800s and early 1900s. I was impressed by the song, but I was thoroughly intrigued by the story. I had never heard the story of the Buffalo Soldier before. The song immediately became a favorite, and I spent hours singing along with the record. The song began:

"In the eighteen hundreds, in Arizona and Mexico,

There came a brand new soldier, the Indians called him Buffalo.

From prison camps and slavery, the black man came to be.

He was a hard-riding hero, of the tenth cavalry…"

Years later, Buffalo Soldier became part of my life’s soundtrack. It was one of the songs that I carried with me for inspiration as I went to "do battle" in the business world. Traveling to a sales call with one of my representatives, I would put the song in the car’s cassette player and wail away! My sales reps heard that song so many times that they started to learn it by osmosis. I’m sure that many of then got sick of hearing it. My Los Angeles sales rep, Mondy Lariz, once presented me with an antique book about the Buffalo Soldiers that was published in 1920. He explained that he was browsing at a garage sale when he saw the book, and he instantly remembered the Buffalo Soldier song. I treasure that gift from Mondy to this day.

A couple of weeks ago, I was listening to the radio when I heard an announcement about a new exhibit at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, which is located in Harlem. The subject of the exhibit – The Buffalo Soldier! As soon as I heard the announcement, I knew I had to go. The Buffalo Soldier exhibit consisted of artifacts from the collections of two people: Anthony Powell, the grandson of a Buffalo Soldier, and basketball hall-of-fame player Kareem Abdul Jabbar.

The exhibit opened on November 14, and I was there the very next day. Walking around the Schomburg, I had the feeling that I was closing a circle. I wasn’t just hearing a song and romanticizing about the Buffalo Soldiers. I was seeing their pictures, reading their names, looking at their uniforms, sensing their struggle.

Who were the Buffalo Soldiers? They were U.S. army soldiers who played a key role in blazing the trails of the Wild West. These African American soldiers, many of them recently freed from slavery, were responsible for escorting settlers into the west. The 9th and 10th Cavalry regiments conducted campaigns against American Indian tribes all across the broad western frontier. Throughout the era of the Indian Wars, approximately twenty percent of the U.S. Cavalry troopers were black, and they fought in over 177 battlefield engagements. The fierceness and combat skills of these black soldiers, as well as the wooly texture of their hair, inspired the Indians to call them "Buffalo Soldiers". The black soldiers believed that the name was a sign of respect from the Indians, and they wore it with pride.

As I stood there examining one of the pictures in the exhibit, I heard someone behind me explaining some of the artifacts. I turned around and saw Kareem Abdul Jabbar himself. He was surrounded by a group of kids and reporters, and he was taking them through the exhibit. He explained with eloquence and intensity why he had such deep respect for the Buffalo Soldiers. He explained to the kids that the sacrifices of the Buffalo Soldiers were the ultimate expression of bravery and patriotism, and that those sacrifices should not be forgotten.

It is amazing to me that blacks who were recently freed from slavery would be willing to fight so valiantly and to die for their country, even as they were still being shunned and oppressed by that very same country. Their service demonstrates how much they wanted to be regarded as full citizens of this country – as men. As I stood there in the exhibit hall, the sound of the Persuasions song started to play again inside my head:

"Buffalo Soldier, if you’d only listen to me.

Been a long, long time, I wonder will you survive in this land.

Buffalo Soldier, please listen to me,

And tell me when, when will they call you a man."

 

Note to readers:

The Buffalo Soldier exhibit will be at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem until January 25. Admission is free.

For more info on the Buffalo Soldiers, simply do a Google search on the keywords "buffalo soldier".

The song that inspired this article is Buffalo Soldier, by The Persuasions. It can be found on their CD entitled Street Corner Symphony. Reggae legend Bob Marley also produced an inspiring song of the same name, which can be found on his Legend CD.

David Tarver

Runaway Bay, Jamaica

November 25, 2003