by Beverly Aarons
Long before the internet gave instant access to America’s hidden history (to anyone willing to search for it), Bob Marley’s hit single “Buffalo Soldier” raised collective awareness about the forgotten Black regiments who fought in some of America’s earliest wars. Set over a steady, smooth beat, Bob Marley’s song sums up the formerly enslaved soldiers’ predicament in these refrains:
Buffalo Soldier, dreadlock Rasta …
Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival.