Black Disability Politics in Black Military Service: A Perspective from Nineteenth-Century Fort Davis, Texas

ABSTRACT

This article considers the role of the military in debilitating Black soldiers, focusing on the men who served in the Western Frontier immediately following the end of the Civil War, with particular attention to the men who served at Fort Davis, one of a string of posts located in West Texas. We frame this archaeological and archival research with critical disability studies to show how these men were motivated by what has recently been termed “Black Disability Politics,” acting both individually and collectively for their community’s care. The men, popularly known as the “Buffalo Soldiers,” occupy an important space in heritage narratives around citizenship rights, valor, and masculine achievement among African-descended people. Understanding fully the circumstances they endured and overcame contributes nuance and dimensionality to that history, while also providing a lens through which to understand the challenges faced by women and Black and Indigenous People of Color in the military today.

KEYWORDS:

• Black disability politics
• critical disability studies
• historical archaeology
• biopolitics
• health

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the staff and volunteers at Fort Davis National Historic Site, the communities of Fort Davis, Alpine, and Marfa, Texas; the Buffalo Soldier History Museum of Houston, the generous staff of the NARA in Washington D.C.; and the many graduate students and undergraduate students who worked in the field and lab for this research. In particular, Wilkie would like to thank Katrina Eichner for her Fort Davis collaborations in the field and beyond.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Stahl Research Endowment of the Archaeological Research Facility, University of California, Berkeley, the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Distinguished Chair of Social Sciences endowment and the Committee on Research at the University of California, Berkeley.

Notes on contributors

Laurie A. Wilkie

Laurie A. Wilkie is Professor of Anthropology and the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Distinguished Professor of Social Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. She is an anthropological archaeologist whose research has focused on understanding nineteenth- and twentieth-century life in the United States and Caribbean, combining documentary and material sources of evidence to understand the recent past.

Katherine M. Kinkopf

Katherine M. Kinkopf is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Cal Poly Pomona. She is a specialist in historical bioarchaeology and critical disability studies focusing on Medieval Italy and the nineteenth- and twentieth-century United States.