Buffalo Soldiers: They Saw Their Duty and They Did It

National Park Service,
Friends of Fort Vancouver National Historic Site,
& Oregon Encyclopedia

present

"They Saw Their Duty and They Did It”
Buffalo Soldiers in Vancouver and Portland

In 1899, a company of soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 24th Infantry — one of four African American regiments known as Buffalo Soldiers — arrived at Vancouver Barracks in Vancouver, WA, during the brief period when respect for African American soldiers was buoyed by their recent success in the Spanish-American War in Cuba. While in the Northwest, the soldiers participated in military, political, and social activities, introducing many residents of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho to blacks and raising local awareness of the national policies and practices that beleaguered African Americans.

In this program, Gregory P. Shine will delve into the experience of soldiers from Company B, and present highlights — and new information — from his two-decade research of their story, and of race and the military in the American West.

Presented by Gregory P. Shine, M.A., is Public Affairs Specialist for the Bureau of Land Management's Oregon & Washington State Office, a lecturer in the History Department at Portland State University, and a member of the editorial board of the Oregon Encyclopedia. For fourteen years he served as the chief ranger and historian at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.

No admission charge.