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Contact: Mary Rose, Executive Director, Friends of Fort Vancouver
At 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 29, 2020, historian Gregory P. Shine will return to the Fort Vancouver Visitor Center to present a special program titled “’I am Also Entitled to be Recognized’: The Journey of Moses Williams, Buffalo Soldier.” The program will explore the life, military service, and Pacific Northwest connections of Sgt. Moses Williams – a decorated Buffalo Soldier and Medal of Honor recipient – and share new research that sheds light on key turning points in Williams’ fascinating life.
Williams, a nineteenth century U.S. Army soldier who served in the Ninth U.S. Cavalry – one of four all-African American regiments known as Buffalo Soldiers – and at several western posts as an ordnance sergeant, is buried in the Vancouver Barracks post cemetery. As Shine’s program will illustrate, Williams’ journey from rural Louisiana, through assignments at remote forts in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, and Oregon, reveals much about the history of the American West.
The program is free to the public, but seating is limited and available on a first come, first served basis. It is jointly sponsored by the Friends of Fort Vancouver, the Oregon Encyclopedia, the Oregon Historical Society, and the National Park Service at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.
To learn more about Moses Williams, the Buffalo Soldiers in the Pacific Northwest, the history of Blacks in Oregon, and related topics, visit the Oregon Encyclopedia online at https://oregonencyclopedia.org. Learn more about Buffalo Soldiers at Vancouver Barracks here.
Gregory P. Shine is a historian, writer and educator who has been researching, writing, and presenting Buffalo Soldier history for nearly 30 years. Greg has worked for the Department of the Interior for over 28 years and has also been an affiliated scholar in the History Department at Portland State University since 2006. For fourteen years he served as the chief ranger and historian at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. Greg is a member of the editorial board of the Oregon Encyclopedia, a board member of the Friends of Fort Vancouver, and a popular speaker on topics related to Pacific Northwest history, including the Buffalo Soldiers. The author of numerous publications, Greg has also contributed to and appeared on episodes of PBS's History Detectives and OPB's Oregon Experience and is a consulting historian to the documentary film Buffalo Soldiers of the Pacific Northwest now in production.
What: Historian Gregory P. Shine presents the program “’I am Also Entitled to be Recognized’: The Journey of Moses Williams, Buffalo Soldier”
Where: Fort Vancouver Visitor Center, 1501 E Evergreen Blvd., Vancouver, WA 98661
When: 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 29, 2020
Cost: Free
Last updated: February 11, 2020