#michaelruane

BUFFALO SOLDIERS DAY!

By Miriam Kleiman, Public Affairs

#OTD in 1866, Congress created six army regiments of all-Black soldiers, eventually known as "Buffalo Soldiers." We honor their legacy and were surprised to recently find in our holdings previously-unknown images of Buffalo Soldiers at West Point, including of these men playing football! Washington Post reporter Mike Ruane broke the story, fittingly, during Black History Month 2021, and detailed the discovery by preservation specialist Richard Schneider. Details below.

UPDATE: There's an incredible update to this story!

Intrigued by this news, football historian Timothy P. Brown wanted to learn more. He researched and shared his findings in his Friendly Fields of Strife blog post: The Mystery of the West Point Cavalry Detachment Football Team. After seeing the trophy photo in an online collectors' forum, Brown reached out to the collector, Ron Pomfrey. The football enthusiasts then shared this amazing story with the press! See: Hanover collector scores priceless piece of West Point football history. Brown continues to learn more about these men and this incredible unknown history. Stay tuned!

Trophy awarded to the Cavalry Detachment, 1929. From 6News Richmond story.

Washington Post feature:

West Point football was all-White until 1966. So why does this 1920s photo show an all-Black squad? National Archives scans reveal rare images of a Black team at the then-segregated military academy.

West Point Buffalo Soldier Cavalry Detachment Football Team, NARA ID 404-WS-6-4886-1.

West Point Buffalo Soldier Cavalry Detachment Football Team, NARA ID 404-WS-6-4886-2.

WASHINGTON POST FEATURES NEW RECORDS FIND!

West Point football was all-White until 1966. So why does this 1920s photo show an all-Black squad? National Archives scans reveal rare images of a Black team at the then-segregated military academy.

See all 12 newly-discovered images of Buffalo Soldiers at West Point!

Today’s Washington Post feature by reporter Michael Ruane details the incredible records find by preservation specialist Richard Schneider. 

Excerpt:

Richard Schneider had just scanned the old negative of a West Point football team into his computer. It was a classic black-and-white shot from the 1920s — linemen posed in formation, the center about to snap the ball.

It was one of thousands of fragile West Point nitrate images he had retrieved from a refrigerated vault at the National Archives’ site in College Park, Md. He opened a program to flip the negative to positive and clicked invert.

To his surprise, the image that popped up showed a team of all African American players. But the U.S. Military Academy did not have its first varsity Black football player until 1966, 40 years later.

“Who are these guys?” he said he wondered.

Schneider had opened a fascinating window into West Point’s past — a time when, amid entrenched racial segregation, units of the famous African American troops known as Buffalo Soldiers were brought to West Point to teach horsemanship.