A Short History of Buffalo Soldiers (not the movie)

photo from wikipedia

According to the Texas State Historical Society, more than 180,000 African Americans fought in segregated units during the Civil War.   After the civil war ended , the peace-time forces retained 6 infantry regiments, (which were later consolidated to 2), and 2 cavalry regiments.

These regiments fought during the Indian Wars, which ended in the 1890s, where the Plains Indians called them Buffalo Soldiers.  Stationed in Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and the Dakotas during the Indian Wars, they fought renegades, bank robbers, and horse and cattle thieves.  They protected stage coaches, payrolls, railroad workers and small towns. 1  These regiments also served in  the Spanish American War, including Battles in Cuba. http://www.history.army.mil/documents/spanam/BSSJH/Shbrt-BSSJH.htm ,  saw service in the Philippines, and Pershing's incursion into Mexico during the Mexican American war.

During World War 1 racial tensions in the US military actually worsened and US white troops fighting in France refused to fight with their Black counterparts.  Segregated Black battalions were limited to supporting roles, even though African Americans were willing to fight on the front lines.  Although African Americans were awarded honours for valor during the war, they returned to a high level of discrimination and the new NAACP was active in defending the rights of returning veterans with limited success.

With Jim Crow law pervading every aspect of US society, it must have been difficult for African Americans to serve in World War 2.  Newspapers in the US proclaimed there was racial harmony as part of war propaganda, yet African Americans who enlisted continued to be segregated.
Black newspapers urged their readers to support the war effort, while still calling on the government to apply Equal Rights to all of its citizens.  Many African Americans served faithfully and well, though they were still often relegated to support roles.

The severe shortage of troops in the most desperate fighting of the Battle of the Bulge caused General Eisenhower to send armed African American troops to fight with White troops in the same units.  It was an important step in the integration of the US military which occurred 1948, though the last segregated units were not disbanded until 6 years later.

don't confuse this with the movie by that name from 2003 which is an unrelated satire of the military

1) Buffalo Soldiers in Italy: Black Americans in World War 2 by Hondon B Hargrove, McFarland 2003

Also, be sure to listen to Buffalo Soldiers by Bob Marley "stolen from Africa...in the heart of America"