MORE THAN SOLDIERS

Black soldiers constructed communities in the Pacific Northwest in the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries (1860-1917) because they established a double minority class and raised social capital due to their roles, transportation, community involvement, service, and their skills navigating White spaces. The small, but influential group of Black soldiers who later retired to major urban centers in Washington used their accrued skills, social capital, and compensation to create the institutions that built the framework of the early Black community. Central to this claim is the approach to the history of the Buffalo Soldiers who retired in Seattle, Spokane, and Tacoma: This thesis analyzes the aspects of community that allowed the soldiers in this class to become community leaders and then highlights their lack of presence in scholarship and public history in the region. The thesis begins with a consideration of the current historiography and the prevailing narrative before detailing life in the Pacific Northwest for Black communities already present in Seattle (Fort Lawton), Spokane (Fort Wright). This thesis hinges on a presentation of the economic and cultural implications of their involvement in the community. Chapter One consists of an analysis of public history about the Buffalo Soldiers at the aforementioned forts and any public preservations of memory in and around the places where they served in Washington. Chapter Two profiles the individual men and their lives before, during, and after service. Chapter three describes how acculturation between local White populace and Black soldiers functioned. Chapter Four periodizes the Black community through the development of economic, political, social, and religious institutions that Black soldiers belonged to or helped create. The final chapter provides recommendations for correcting silences and adding these men and their families into the historical memory in public spaces where they are not currently remembered. These soldiers make up part of the history of these cities, history unintelligible to most unless specific and additional research is done. As Hayden suggests in Power of Place, everyone deserves partial ownership over the history of urban places and spaces if they have history there.