An award-winning documentary that dives into the complex history of Black soldiers in the United States military will be presented Thursday evening as part of Black History Month events in Philomath.
“Buffalo Soldiers: Fighting on Two Fronts” will be screened in Philomath High School’s auditorium at 7 p.m. Feb. 22 — the doors open at 6:30 — and afterward will feature a question-and-answer discussion with Dru Holley, the film’s director, and Zachary Stocks, Oregon Black Pioneers executive director.
Eric Niemann, former Philomath mayor who helped organize the event, will provide a welcome message prior to the showing of the film. After the Q-and-A, an 82nd Airborne Division Chorus presentation will conclude the evening.
Buffalo Soldiers were U.S. Army military personnel that served primarily on the Western frontier in the years following the Civil War. In 1898, the regiments fought in the Spanish-American War and remained in service to the country through World War II.
“Black history is more than the stereotypical characters that we talk about all the time,” Holley said during an interview with the Philomath News on Monday morning. “With all due respect, those are amazing people, but we need to open our lens.”
Holley, who lives in Vancouver, Washington, provides such a perspective in the film’s scenes about Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, the U.S. Volunteer Cavalry regiment that in 1898 stormed San Juan Hill, a victory that led to the end of the Spanish-American War.
“The Buffalo Soldiers were the ones who conquered San Juan Hill and Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders ride well after them,” Holley said. “And as that picture is opened up, as we do in the film, you see these Black men around Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders. So we need to open our lens and I think now’s the time we are able to, which is the start of diving into real American history.”
The “Fighting on Two Fronts” reference that’s part of the film’s title points to the soldiers not only fighting for America but also for their own rights.
“Along with fighting for the United States Army abroad — the West was abroad at that time or across the Pacific in the Philippines — they were also fighting for civil rights here at home,” Holley said. “So they were fighting to be a part of America, to support America, but also fighting for their civil rights in America.”
Holley stumbled upon the story of Buffalo Soldiers in 2018 while volunteering for Langston Hughes Foundation’s Juneteenth festival in Seattle.
“I was new to the area and had just moved here from Denver and was wanting to get more involved in the Black film scene,” Holley said, explaining that he was shooting footage at the Juneteenth event that the organization could use to promote the following year’s celebration.
“I brought my little girl so she could check it out and after a while, I heard her say, ‘ooh, horsies,’” he added. “And when I looked up to see what she was talking about, I saw these Black men galloping up the hill on horseback like they were right out of the 19th century.”
His daughter wanted to know more.
“I was stumped; I couldn’t really place who they were,” Holley said. “Finally, I realized that those were Buffalo Soldiers — I think it was from a Bob Marley song that finally played in my head.”
That set up the desire to find out more about Buffalo Soldiers but Holley found little information online about their history. The idea for a documentary followed — and it would turn out to be his first film.
“I had never completed something on this scale before,” Holley said about the project. “Having to be persistent and having to continue to push myself, I hadn’t done anything like this previously. It’s made me grow … I definitely got gray since we started the project.”
Buffalo Soldiers premiered at the Seattle Film Festival in April 2022 and was first broadcast on PBS in June 2023.
Admission to Thursday’s event is free but canned food donations and contributions will be accepted to benefit the local food bank managed by Philomath Community Services. Various partners contributed to make the event possible — Interfor, Linn-Benton NAACP, Benton County Historical Society, Philomath School District, Philomath City Council and the Philomath Inclusivity Committee.
