BUFFALO SOLDIERS

Reluctantly conceding that African-Americans were capable of being soldiers, the US Army formed the first permanent black units after the Civil War, sending them first to the western frontier, then to Cuba in the Spanish-American War, and later to Mexico in pursuit of Pancho Villa. Despite open prejudice and second-rate equipment, they served with distinction, earning praise from their (white) officers and many Medals of Honor. Reef tells their story with simplicity and outrage, stressing the pervasive racism that was their most stubborn foe; Henry Flipper, the first African- American graduate of West Point (1877), was cashiered on a trumped- up charge that took nearly a century to dismiss, while the Buffalo Soldiers had no monument at their home base, Fort Leavenworth, until 1992. Middle-grade readers whose appetites are whetted by this account will find larger helpings of information in Robert Miller's Buffalo Soldiers (1991) or Edward Wakin's Black Fighting Men in U.S. History (1971, o.p.). Illustrated with b&w photos and period art. Chronology; bibliography; index. (Nonfiction. 10-13)