Passport to Texas

Buffalo Soldier Reenactors

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This is Passport to Texas

With a lack of relatable role models, it’s easy to understand why some urban youth may feel estranged from the outdoors.

04— You get raised thinking: Okay, these things are not really for me.

Twenty-two-year-old Devonte Hill recently graduated from college, and makes short documentary films about the outdoors. Meet him on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV show.

07—What I really want to be is a storyteller. I just want to show people things that maybe they hadn’t seen before – give them a
different reality.

Hill learned about the Buffalo Soldier Program when he was a State Park Ambassador, and started sharing their reality with other young people.

13—The Buffalo Soldiers were created in 1866 to assist and protect the settlement as it continued to move further out west. Luis Padilla works with the Buffalo Soldier Program; he says they were the first black professional men in the US Army.

14—When the Native Americas saw the Buffalo Soldier, he wasn’t used to seeing a man of this color in the wool uniform. So, the only thing the Indian could do at that point is compare this new soldier to something he knew out on the frontier. And that something on the frontier just happened to be the buffalo.

The soldiers also had a reputation for being fierce fighters. Learn about their contributions to Texas history on the PBS Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series the week of March 29 through April 4, 2015. Check your local listings.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.