‘Buffalo Soldiers’ Coming to Duncan Falls

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – One of the benefits that Black History Month offers is recognizing the often overlooked ways that black people have shaped American culture.

Muskingum County Library System Director of Marketing and Community Relations Sean Fennell announced an event that spotlights how the United States Army assigned black soldiers to help settle the American frontier. 

“So we have a very exciting program coming up for… as part of our Black History Month programs that we have,” Fennell said. “This Saturday, at our Duncan Falls-Philo Branch library, at noon, we have an opportunity to learn about the Buffalo Soldiers and their impact, at a program called ‘Defenders of the West, The Buffalo Soldiers Impact.’ And we will have Gregory Edmonds here, coming to speak about the impact that these soldiers had on the shaping of the kind of movement westward. You know, after the Civil War.”

Edmonds, a member of the Ohio Memorial Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen will discuss the often overlooked roles that African Americans played fighting Native Americans and defending settlers during the settlement of the Great American Plains.

“I mean we always want to make sure that we are celebrating history… including black history and so we wanted to bring in an expert speaker to talk about this really fascinating subject of the Buffalo Soldiers. I was unaware of who they were until, you know, I saw this program come across the library events guide and was very excited about it as well. And so, it’s interesting to me and I hope that other people are able to really connect with our history in a different way,” Fennell said.

The Buffalo Soldiers presentation will take place at Noon, Saturday, February 15th, at the Duncan Falls-Philo branch library and is expected to run for an hour.