Eric Sinclair

3/1/2024

Cultural Event 1
 Throughout American history African Americans have been enslaved and segregated for

their pigmented skin color from white folks up until about the 1950’s. But before that time

African Americans were segregated not just in normal everyday life but also in the military. As I

attended my first cultural event on campus I learned that African Ameicans either served as US

Colored Troops or The Buffalo Soldiers during the Civil War. These two “branches” of the US

Military were similar but also completely different. As I dive into the dissection of my cultural

event the historical importance of how these men operated will quickly become relevant to many

topics covered in class.

Before I begin to show the relevancy these men have to our class I first want to review

many of the points our speaker made about the Buffalo Soldiers and US Colored Troops. The

speaker first began by explaining the difference between the two, and the roles each would have

in the Military. During the United States Civil War, US colored troops signed up for 3 years of

battle. These were mostly free men that still were illiterate which caused many of them to be lied

to and end up signing a contract to fight for 5 years. This included the speaker's Grandfather who

would eventually become a Buffalo Soldier after his 5 years of battle. In which The Buffalo

Soldiers would work for the federal government to help fulfill manifest destiny. Since many of

the white men out west moved eastward to help fight in the civil war, the government needed

someone to continue moving west. On top of fulfilling manifest destiny the Buffalo Soldiers

were used for escorting people of power, mostly white folk, help build railroads, help deliver
mail/riches, and were taught how to read and write. This differed from US colored troops

because they were never formally made literate and were used in the actual battle of the Civil

War. In certain cases Buffalo Soldiers would help in war including the Battle of San Juan hill but

other than that were primarily used for helping the US government and rich powerful white

folks. Although the Buffalo Soldiers were free men, they had many hard jobs they had to carry

out for them to be eventually rewarded.

This is where I started to draw many correlations and connections to some of the things

we have learned during the course. The first similarity is how Buffalo soldiers were used to

continue building railroads to transport materials just as many of the African slaves did during

the scramble for Africa. Although the Buffalo Soldiers were not enslaved and punished for their

slow work , the work conditions both faced caused many people to die building these railroads.

In addition these railroads were being built for the same purposes, to bring materials from the

interior of the land to the coast, along with continuing to expand territory. The second connection

I was able to make between the enslaved Africans and the Buffalo Soldiers was their efficiency

with the available materials. When the Buffalo Soldiers were heading westward, fulfilling

manifest destiny, the available materials they had were scarce. Many soldiers would use buffalo

feces for a source of burning fuel to cook and boil water and food due to the lack of wood.

Although this is different from the enslaved Africans, the Africans also had very limited

resources due to the white folks hogging all of them to be used for rubber extraction and other

jobs. The last correlation I was able to make between the Buffalo Soldiers and this course was

the way Africans and The Buffalo Soldiers were rewarded. This is not a positive correlation

though because the enslaved Africans received no reward for their efforts. No matter how much

rubber they extracted or how much gold they found, the enslaved Africans were never rewarded.
The Africans were actually punished if they did not adhere to the quota causing them to fear

white folks. In very uncommon occasions some Buffalo Soilders were lynched even if they were

free men. Aside from those unfortunate few, Buffalo Soldiers were awarded with the ability to

seek better employment, own property, and even gain higher access to education due to what was

called their “heroism.” The Buffalo Soldiers were allowed to move on with their lives but

unfortunately most Africans stayed slaves or died.

These connections and others made it a very emotional cultural event for the speaker and

the audience. I felt uncultured and out of place when the speaker had to take a minute to regroup

herself. I did not have the same understanding as her about the amount of stuff her grandfather

and other Buffalo Soldiers went through during the Civil War. Her and I’s emotions quickly

changed when she began explaining all the great things her grandfather accomplished after and

during his time as a Buffalo Soldier. I even began to feel proud for her grandfather. He moved

back to the east coast and purchased land in Wicomico County which is now being used for

Thomas Pol, Sr Buffalo Soldier Outpost. An event like this made me realize how much history

surrounds us in everyday life. I would have had no idea about this outpost if it was not for

attending this cultural event.

As this being my first ever cultural event I didn't know what to expect. I honestly thought

this would be almost like a church mass. Praising the lord, or in this case the Buffalo Soldiers for

all the good they have done. But it really wasn't, it taught me how these men were still

segregated from the US military and carried out hard tasks with limited resources. It taught me

that these men had a purpose that is normally forgotten or shadowed by the actual Civil War.

And the craziest part is… that it all happened just a couple hundred years ago. This whole event
made me appreciate the life I have been able to experience and showed me that stories like these

are just small pieces of history.