[Devonte Hill] I'm Devonte Hill and I'm 22 years old.
((car))
[Devonte] I just graduated from college and, you know,
kind of just looking for an opportunity to get out before I start grinding in a regular
job.
((radio cuts off))
[Devonte] What I really want to be is a story teller,
show people things they haven't seen before. Everyone has a story.
((birds chirping))
[Devonte] When you see things on t.v. about outdoors
and things like that, all you really see is a certain type of demographic.
((camera clicks))
[Devonte] You kind of get raised thinking that, okay,
these things are not really for me. And whether that's making documentaries,
((video))
I just want to show people things that maybe they haven't seen before, give them a different
reality.
((video))
[Devonte] I was a state park ambassador that got exposed
to the Buffalo Soldier Program.
[Soldiers] ATTENTION!
[Devonte] I'm always open to new experiences.
[Woman] Let me take your picture.
((bugle music))
((military snare drum))
[Devonte] I don't have too much experience with kids
besides my cousins. So it will be interesting dealing with the little people (laughs).
[Soldier] Salute
[Luis Padilla] The Buffalo Soldiers were created in 1866
to assist and protect the settlement as it continued to move further out west.
[Soldier] What we have here today guys are the 10 essentials
of outdoor living.
[Luis] These were the first black professional men
in the U.S. Army.
((old film))
[Luis] Now they got their name from the Indians.
((stampede))
[Luis] When the Native Americans saw the buffalo
soldier, he wasn't used to seeing a man of this color in the wool uniform. So the only
thing the Indian could do at this point was compare this new soldier to something he knew
out on the frontier. And that something on the frontier just happened to be the buffalo.
They had a reputation of being fierce fighters, not backing down.
[Soldier] Like a buffalo come running through there
right now, he won't run around you or jump over you. He'll run right through everybody.
[Luis] Texas Parks and Wildlife started the Buffalo
Soldiers program to preserve the cultural history,
[Soldier] We're about to go out on a scouting mission!
[Luis] and to connect people with the outdoors, get
connected to the state park resources.
[Soldier] What are these that he's drawing? Tents!
[Mashawn Butler] When a participant comes to see the Buffalo
Soldiers,
[Soldier] About face!
[Mashawn] they are able to learn about what they did
on the frontier, how they camped, how they cooked.
[Soldier] It's hardtack.
[Luis] We use the Buffalo Soldiers' rich heritage
and history to connect urban audiences who are not currently connected to their state
parks to get them outside. Get them outside throwing a baseball, get them outside walking
the trails. Get them enjoying what's in their own backyard.
[Soldier] All those landmarks that we saw, we're going
to make a list of them and then we're going to make a map together.
[Luis] The Buffalo Soldier program depends heavily
on its volunteers.
[Devonte] Sergeant says point to the lake.
When you're thrown into this situation, especially when you put on their uniform, you feel a
connection automatically.
((music))
[Mashawn] They accomplished so many things, building
roads, putting up telegraph lines, mapping out areas so they knew where watering holes
were.
[Luis] Buffalo Soldiers were also some of the first
professional mountain bikers. The Iron Riders blazed a trail of off-road biking for the
country.
[Mashawn] The women who supported the Buffalo Soldiers
were strong pioneering women. They would keep records about what happens in town.
[Luis] The text messages that people send today started
a long time ago with the Buffalo Soldiers as they were working on the frontier stringing
up telegraph poles.
[Mashawn] They were really pioneering this land that
we call America.
[Soldier] Come on up here 'cause you're going to be
batting next!
There you go!
((cheers))
[Mashawn] The kids that we interact with, I hope that
they leave with a sense of pride, with a sense of wonder, with a sense of curiosity.
[Soldier] You don't need all this fancy equipment to
play.
[Mashawn] So that they have a better understanding of
not only the Buffalo Soldiers but also where they come from.
[Soldier] Good afternoon! How y'all doing?
[Steve Harvey] Black history's not taught in schools anymore.
They don't talk about the kings in Africa. They don't do that anymore.
[Soldier] We fought just like the buffalo, just as brave,
just as strong as the buffalo.
[Steve Harvey] A lot of our inner city kids have problems
because they don't understand the history.
[Soldier] We showed that we were able to do what anybody
else could do.
[Steve] These Buffalo Soldiers were from an era where
they created their own company with a high level of expectations, requirements and it
produced a lot of dignity.
[Soldier] And if you didn't want to go outside and work
what do you think they said? Just do it! Exactly.
[Steve] I'm just asking these kids to go and do and
be the best. And Buffalo Soldiers were some of the best.
((music))
[Luis] With segregation around, with these men combined
into units of just other black men going into settlements and towns where tensions were
high says a lot about their character and spirit.
[Mashawn] As we all know, the Native Americans were
pushed off their land by the U.S. government. Buffalo Soldiers were a part of that mission.
But at the same time, they were also trying to prove themselves to the U.S. government.
To prove that they were more than three-quarters of a person, of a man. So both of these groups
were trying to show the leading power, the U.S. government that they are both human.
[Devonte] Any time you listen to a story of people who
have been put into a really bad situation and was still able to do amazing things, that
definitely has a sense of pride. Maybe I had a Buffalo Soldier in my family line at some
point in time. That's really cool when you really think about it.
[Devonte] You have to put a little more muscle in that
one, man.
This whole experience has just been one of those life-changing moments. I've never really
done anything like this before, never really did anything with kids before so it was a
lot of first for me. But it definitely got me a lot more comfortable with sharing history
with people, a lot more comfortable kind of getting outside my box, and kind of exploring
something new and something different.
These represent fish that you can catch here in Texas.
And learning.
Stand by. 5, 4, 3, 2...
[Anchor] Coming up tonight at 10, a gruesome discovery...
[Devonte] I got a job! Hopefully this is the first step
to me continuing my training and practice of being a storyteller.
From there we're going to go to camera 3 back to 2 position.
I see myself traveling through the beautiful state of Texas telling stories about a lot
of the history here along with some of the groups that are doing some great things.
[kids] Me! Me!
((music))
[Devonte] And this is part of my story.
((military snare))
-end-