Celebrating Black History Month: Buffalo Soldiers, first all-black Army regiment

 The Buffalo Soldiers were the first all-black Army regiment established by US Congress in 1866.  During the Civil War, the government formed regiments known as the United States Colored Troops, but they were disbanded in 1865.  The Buffalo Soldiers first participated in wars against the Native Americans, escorting US mail, and bulding roads in the southwestern area and Great Plains regions.  

They participated in two of the largest range wars, battles in the American Old West fought between large cattle rangers against smaller ranchers and farmers who competed for land, water, and livestock. 

Buffalo Soldiers participated in WWI and WWII, but in 1948, President Truman desegrated the US army.  The Buffalo Soldiers were disbanded on December 12, 1951. 

Over its history, more than two dozen soldiers received the Medal of Honor for their service.

Buffalo Soldiers brief history

Celebrating Black History Month: Edith Sampson, first African American to represent US at the UN

Edith Sampson, born in 1901 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, graduated from Peabody High School, and then studied at the New York School of Social Work. She got married to Rufus Sampson and moved to Chicago.  She studied law at night, working as a social worker during the day, and graduated from the John Marshall Law School in 1925.

Later, she became the first woman to earn a Master of Laws from Loyola University's Graduate Law School in 1927, and passed the Illinois bar exam. In 1934 was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court. 

In 1949, Sampson participated in the Round-The-World Town Meeting, as one of twenty-six prominent Americans traveled to foreign countries, meeting with their leaders. Sampson countered the Soviet Union's propaganda regarding the treatment of black people in the US.  She also compared communism to slavery.

President Truman appointed her as an alternate US delegate to the United Nations, making her the first African American to officially represent the US to the UN.  She served until 1953.  During the Eisenhower Administration, she was a member of the US Commission for UNESCO.  In 1961-1962, she became the first black US representative to NATO.

Sampson ran for associate judge of the Municipal Court of Chicago and became the first black woman elected judge in Illinois.   She continued as a Circuit Court judge until retirement in 1978.  

She passed away in October 1927.