Buffalo Soldiers of the Sierra Nevada
What were African-American soldiers doing in the Sierra in 1899, 1903 and 1904? Let park ranger Shelton Johnson guide you on a historic journey through time, race, and wilderness.
In 1903, nearly 400 African-American soldiers made the dusty journey on horseback from the Presidio in San Francisco to Yosemite. During this time, African-Americans occupied the lowest rung on the American social ladder. Most of the jobs available to “colored folks” were menial, labor-intensive, and very rarely considered professional. Segregation and lynchings were common affairs of daily life in America. One of the few paths out of this morass was through the military. The Army provided a vocation, training, room and board, and a pension. It also provided a sense of self-esteem; the uniform provided pride in country.
But while these soldiers had the same responsibilities as their Euro-American counterparts, they had the added burden of race on their shoulders. On the one hand, the Buffalo Soldiers were sent to protect parks, routinely telling white visitors what they could and could not do. On the other, these soldiers were a part of a larger society that had difficulty seeing them as symbols of authority. In spite of these challenges, the Buffalo Soldiers fulfilled their mission.
