Greetings again from the darkness. PBS excels at documentaries that bring to light a subject or topic which has been overshadowed or overlooked. In conjunction with WORLD channel and filmmakers Dru Holley, Jerome Young, and Jerry Bell Jr, this latest focuses on the previously uncelebrated role of African American soldiers in numerous wars dating back more than 150 years.
For those only familiar with the term "Buffalo Soldiers" thanks to the 1983 Bob Marley song, the film explains how legend tells us that the Native Americans gave the name to African American soldiers on the frontier, and it evolved into a nickname for all African American soldiers. Although the precise reason why the name was applied is still debated, the term has survived and can still be used today.
Timed to release on Juneteenth, the one-hour film depicts the crucial role of African American soldiers in war, and how their willingness to fight for the country was associated with their desired right to citizenship ... and money. Perhaps the most revelatory moment occurs when we are informed that the infamous storming of San Juan Hill by Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War actually occurred AFTER the Buffalo Soldiers had cleared the way for them. The famous photograph is widened to provide evidence of these Buffalo soldiers.
Utilizing the fascinating stories of Moses Williams, William Cathay, and Charles Young delivers the personal aspect necessary to have the story resonate with skeptics. Williams spent 37 years in the military was the first African American to be awarded the Medal of Honor, and the stories of Cathay (a female pretending to be a man in order to enlist) and Young (stationed in Liberia where blacks ruled over indigenous blacks) are equally enthralling.
Much of the focus here is on the Indian War, the Civil War, and the Spanish-American War, and the film succeeds in proving its point: Black history is American history. This is a piece of history that many of us have not been previously exposed, and it rights that wrong.
Premieres June 12 on PBS and June 19 on WORLD Channel's Local, USA series.
