Exodusters, Black Cowboys and Buffalo Soldiers in the Black West
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- čas přidán 9. 10. 2021
- After the Civil War, many Black Southerners sought opportunities out West to places like Nicodemus, Kansas. Black cowboys found a living on the Texas cattle drives and others enlisted in military service as "Buffalo Soldiers" during the "Indian Wars."
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SOURCES
Schubert, Frank N. (1997). Black Valor: Buffalo Soldiers and the Medal of Honor, 1870-1898. Scholarly Resources Inc. pp. 4-5. ISBN 978-0-8420-2586-7.
Taylor, Quintard. From Timbuktu to Katrina: Readings in African-American History. Boston, Mass: Thomson Wadsworth, 2008. Print.
Taylor, Quintard. In Search of the Racial Frontier: African Americans in the American West, 1528-1990 (New York: W.W. Norton, 1998)
Weekly, Harpers, et al. “The African-American Mosaic Western Migration.” Library of Congress, 23 July 2010, www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/afam009.html. - Zábava
The saddest thing was Buffalo Soldiers killing Native Americans. It had to sear their conscious knowing they were doing to the Indians what rich slavemasters did to us as a people.
There needs to be healing between African and Native Americans for what went on.
Thank you for this. I'll continue to learn about the rest of American history.
Wallace aka “80 John” is a great story of Hard Work and a Friendship that was rare in those times the Trust and Loyalty between Wallace and Mann the Rancher he worked for was incredible but both men earning that from the other Wallace was a Millionaire when he died and he worked for every penny nothing was ever given to him but hard work and making the Right Choices he overcame so much this is one of those stories to tell your Grandchildren about
Bravo for this eyes wide open exploration of Black American history.
Bass Reeves and the Indian territory of what became Arkansas , and Oklahoma, attempted to link foundational Black Americans to Native American tribes even before Bass Reeves . The "Trail of Tears" from old Hickory administration precluded Bass Reeves . So, Black people as indigenous people to North America has existed for a long time . This price on the Exodusters, Cowboys, and Buffalo Soldiers is educational as I learned more about our contribution to this culture .
Absolutely timely especially in view of current events. You could not have told this story any better. In fact, having grown up during the jim crow era in the very deep south, I am still able to learn so much about this nation's history and its shame that continues to be reflected in the events being recorded today. Unbelievably, this is the first time that I ever heard of Exodusters or the true role and impact of the Buffalo soldiers. I am su
I just stumbled upon your channel and I love it. it is sad as your channel should have so many more views.
Thank you so much! I appreciate the support.
Thank you for this. It's the most thorough version I've seen. It's researched well and comprehensive. American history is fascinating and so misunderstood. This is what needs to be taught in all schools. The truth matters.
Thanks for watching! There's a new premiering on Friday. I hope you'll check it out!
Along with Dr. Henry Louis Gates, YOU INSPIRE ME!
It's comforting to know that there are enthusiastic, professional, and well-researched educators out here like you that are positively contributing to the well-being of our future leaders and that are protecting our history by teaching it;🙏 for if we do not, it will be erased in hidden sight.
Wonderfully comprehensive and concise overview with a unique perspective on Buffalo Soldiers in particular. Loved his comments on "options vs. choices." Well done.
This wonderfully done!!!👏🏾❤️👏🏾❤️👏🏾❤️
Every group has taken a turn at helping WS advance forward. If i am not mistaken, Natives where helping in the catching and returning of runaways before the Civil war. Where do you apologize for trying to survive in the only game you have been left to play?
That's very true. And I'm not saying I would have done any different. I do think it's important to understand, though, that ultimately what we did was in service of white supremacy.
@@AfricanElements i agree. It is an unfortunate reality.
And Hispanics helped WSs raid and attack Native Americans too.
Keep moving Brother
….glad u told the truth about Buffalo Soldiers 😳💯✔️…
I was wondering how Native Americans always treat me like dirt when I meet them. They seem to despite my being black and having to deal with me. Thinking the buffalo soldiers where kicking there ass too advance white territories is repulsive…. But I can’t atone for what my ancestors did too cut out a slice of Americana for themselves. Desperation, hardships, discrimination plagued us on our journey too freedom and righteousness. We got skin in the game. What we can do is liberate each other and heal for the times called for hard men and even harder women. I feel our paths as decedents, though cryptically opposed are very much linked in American mythos of a nation establishing itself and coming to the grips of who they represent. I apologize for those atrocities and hope that in times now we can put them aside and vanquish the demons that suffocate are right too exist, leaving all men the right too be free and seek the many blessing bestowed upon them in the nation we call the United States. We can transcend and live together in peace and harmony…..I thing that’s what we all want in the end… peace and affirmation!
The history there is super complicated. There are moments in history when Black people acted on behalf of white supremacy against Native Americans and moments in which Native Americans have acted on behalf of white supremacy and enslaved Black people. The common denominator is white supremacy. The truth is that acting as agents of white supremacy has not helped either group.
@@AfricanElements ,some native American tribes did own slaves.And did any of them march in the Civil Rights Movement.
@@eddiethorne6461 Ummm... Did you miss the part where I said in the very common that you are replying to, _"Native Americans have acted on behalf of white supremacy and enslaved Black people..."?_ And yes, some Native American people were active in the Civil Rights Movement as well. Additionally, many people in the American Indian movement (AIM) were in active coalition with a Black Panther Party.
@@AfricanElements ,i will research that because i was going by the fact that the black newspapers at the time that i read on the east coast of the USA and Ebony Magazine did not mention American Indians marching with black people or Hispanics.They mentioned that some white religious leaders and Hollywood people did or spoke support for the Civil Rights Movement.Some white religious leaders even were killed in the south because of their support.I will all so take a look at the historical major battles against the American Indians and the Army officers who lead those battles including the Trail Of Tears.
You should find some mention of it in the Black Panther Party newspapers.
We just jump from one hell to another, don't we?! I don't know what I would do!!
Thanks for your comment! I'm debuting a series later today on political thought starting with W.E.B. Du Bois in Booker T. Washington assessing their strength and limitations. They had some ideas moving forward that you might find interesting.
Thank you for this moment in black history. I would like to know more about how we turned on our own the natives ?
Was the buffalo soldiers later named the 1st cavalry in the vietnam war ???
Thanks for watching! There are a lot of good sources on the Buffalo soldiers, but the ones I prefer are cited in the video description (I think Gerald Horne is the best). In short, I believe the buffalo soldiers were essentially "bribed." The prospect of $13 a month when stacked against the reality of sharecropping and convict lease in the south seemed attractive to many black folks. Alongside that with the prospect of gaining respect as citizens (which obviously never materialized).
The Buffalo soldiers were disbanded when President Harry Truman issued an executive order 9981, which eliminated racial segregation in the US armed forces.
Shoutout to allll black 🤠 🤠 🤠 🤠 🤠
What author's/books are referenced in this clip?
Thanks in advance.
Thanks for watching! Full citations are in the video description.
No mo wars with treaty Acts in 2022. Develop this act
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I cannot imagine a fate where you have to run off the First Nations Peoples off the land that they took possession of first. I would prefer to be something else. GOD bless us all.
ones conscience should shout out HELL NO. God isnt supposed to be this vile
Thanks for the History. Keep it up. I wonder… the Nazis said the same thing . ( we were just following orders.)
If I were back in those times, with those options, I would have been a buffalo soldier. As it goes: it’s either going to be them or me and it ain’t gonna be me… Besides, some of those Indians were slave owners (the five civilized tribes). We And them were trying to accepted or like the whites. It was a matter of survival. It was either them or you. And it shouldn’t be you.
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As a buffalo soldier I'd like to think that my conscience would have prevented me from helping to steal the lives and land of indigenous people. What would I have done? Probably stolen what little supplies and weaponry I could and left to find somewhere where I could lead an honest life. Tough choices, I know!
Interestingly, the Buffalo Soldiers who served on the "Indian Wars" were less prone to desertion than their white counterparts, but that _wasn't_ true of the Philippine War. Check out the video, Savage Acts: Wars Affairs And Empire ( czcams.com/video/cMHki0dIjW0/video.html ) where Black soldiers dealt with this dilemma head on.
We are the indigenous peoples, so we were stealing from ourselves!
@@sourdiesel681 Don't be such an idiot. Buffalo soldiers were of direct African descent
@@sourdiesel681 No we weren't
sorta like leaving alabama for the detroit area. Lotsa options rather than killing cguldren. Black folk have to own up and realize they being in millions control the actions of the world. Obama was president albeit he was half white. I remember my USMC days and trying to understand blacks' thoughts. shiniest shoes and more pompadour.
Some good information in your video BUT….Buffalo soldiers originally from Africa if so how can we prove that?
I'm confused as to what your question is. I never made a claim about the Buffalo soldiers being from Africa. Where are you getting that from?
@@AfricanElements oh I apologize then…I thought I heard them being addressed as African-American… I’ll watch it again… thanks for the response sir
@@Back4WhatsMines 🙄
I know I would do what I did for a large part of my life. Join the service.
Lol
I take exception to the apparent necessity of the apologia for African American soldiers making the questionable moral choice of fighting the indigenous people of the West in the latter years of the 19th Century. At the time, there was no such moral choice to be made. The United States was at war with these native tribes. The post-Civil War "colored" regiments were soldiers of the United States. No one had access to all of the details that we have today, nor did they have our 21st Century sensibilities. It is absurd to think that these brave men need to be defended in the 21st Century for a set of 19th Century circumstances. We really need to quit judging history by today's standards. It's an ultimate straw man exercise.
There is absolutely no question that the war against the indigenous people was a war of white supremacy. It is no mischaracterization (strawman) to say that the manifest destiny was a blatantly open statement of white superiority over "savage" people. Moral relativism is a cop out. If something is wrong, it was _always_ wrong whether the majority of people recognized it to be wrong or not. There was a time when most people believed slavery to be morally acceptable (even virtuous). That doesn't make slavery any less morally repugnant. They are wrong now and they were wrong then.
@@AfricanElements I sincerely appreciate your thoughtful response, but it failed to address my point. Instead it introduces another straw man. Please note that it was _not_ my contention that the military actions were not a war of white supremacy nor that it was somehow justified, then or now. My comment was to the point that few, if any people, and certainly not former slaves who had been denied any sort of academic education, were in a position to gather and judge those facts in that time and under those circumstances. To have to explain or justify their actions holds them accountable for choices they never had the opportunity to make. They were soldiers, they were sent to defend their country and its citizens.
I may have misunderstood your argument, but to strawman is to intentionally mischaracterize an argument. I don't think I did that. I also strongly disagree. It is simply not the case that black people were not capable of understanding the moral implications of the so-called "Indian Wars." The fact is, there was some debate within the black community over the moral implications of fighting another oppressed group. As I said in a video, I don't disparage them for that since their options were terrible, but neither do I pretend that they were on the right side of history.
It is also my contention that whether they understood they were wrong is irrelevant. I don't believe in moral relativism. Actions don't _become_ immoral the moment we realize they are immoral. Immoral actions are _always_ immoral whether we realize it or not.
@@AfricanElements Is there a source for information about the debate within the black community regarding oppressing the oppressed at that time? I have been researching this topic and would like to have a broader view. Still, I did not suggest that black people were incapable of understanding the moral implications of the so-called "Indian Wars." My contention was that the soldiers were not afforded the opportunity.
But two, more general points.
1. Perhaps it was not a deliberate statement, but you mention history having a "right side." I don't read that as an absolute, but I do think it suggests a bias when studying history. In my thinking, history is history, with neither rightness nor wrongness. I might see certain historical events as being repugnant, but I realize it is my own repugnance and does not exist outside of my own point of view. Moreover, it's been my goal, when I become aware of my strong feelings about such events, to try to understand what the opposing view might be.
2. As to moral relativism, is there any other kind? Let me give you an example: some might argue that a straw man is only a straw man if argued deliberately, but that, if unintended, then it is not a straw man. Go figure.
Gerald Horne covers the debate pretty thoroughly in his book, _Black and Brown:_ _African Americans and the Mexican Revolution,_ _1910-1920._ There's another source ( czcams.com/video/cMHki0dIjW0/video.html ) that documents intense African American debate not with regard to the Indian Wars, but with regard to their involvement in the Philippine War in the early 1900s that clearly cites conflict within the Black community over the idea of "civilizing" the Filipinos. Both of these examples involve the buffalo soldiers.
As I have stated, I do not believe in moral relativism. Your example of a strawman argument is a false equivalency since intentionality is intrinsic to its very definition, "an _intentionally_ misrepresented proposition that is set up because it is easier to defeat than an opponent's real argument." (emphasis mine)
In short, Slavery is wrong, genocide is wrong, and white supremacy is wrong. They are wrong now, they were wrong then, and they have ALWAYS been wrong. They did not _become_ wrong the moment the majority realized that they were wrong.
I say that the buffalo soldiers were on the wrong side of history in the spirit of the old adage that, "those who fail to understand history are doomed to repeat it." In participating in the Indian Wars, black people advanced the cause of white supremacy. That was a mistake. They were not served by advancing that cause. That was my larger point.
This is a faux notion when he says it was in ''context '' of the time. Killing women, and children is never an option one has to deal with. My singular notion that cotton, tobacco was necessary for the USA to pay its bills, so we needed slavery as best, efficient system to get that done. That logic tells me maybe as a NATIVE AMERICAN......I should pine for ownership of slaves and worked them mercilessly, beat them ..... as that was the best 'option' given the era, the time. Blacks should know better, and accept their then racist attitude. does it still longer today?
Not trying to make excuses. Trying to help people understand. When I say "context of the time," I'm not referring to cultural relativism, which is a term that apologists used to excuse white supremacy. The context I'm referring to is the fact that black folks essentially had a choice between slave labor, Jim Crow, ku Klux Klan terror, and convict labor, or they could join the army. I can't sit here and condemn them for the choice they made because I understand why they did what they did, but I'm not going to pretend like they should be celebrated as heroes, either.
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