Buffalo Soldiers: Fighting on Two Fronts

PBS America: Monday 27 November at 20:20

African Americans have a long and honourable history of serving with America’s armed forces, participating in both World Wars and many other conflicts across the globe. Yet at home they faced discrimination and a lack of civil rights.

Their involvement in many of their country’s military campaigns is not without its contradictions. As American soldiers under orders, they would also play a part in the subjugation of Indigenous peoples as the US appropriated tribal land; the persecution of striking silver miners in Idaho, and the fight against Filipinos seeking for independence in the Spanish-American War.

Drawing upon the testimony of historians, experts and descendants, along with archive material, re-enactments and animation, this documentary tells the complex story of the so- called ‘Buffalo Soldiers’.