Book review: 'Buffalo Soldiers in Alaska' by military historian Brian Shellum explores a little known chapter of Black history in Alaska
By Brian Shellum, University of Nebraska Press, 386 Pages, 2021. $29.95Black history in Alaska is woefully underexplored. Shortly after America purchased Alaska, Black people were among those trickling north seeking opportunity or simply to escape conditions back home. Black prospectors took part in the Gold Rush at the end of the 19th century, and there are firm historical accounts of Black residents living in such remote locations as McCarthy and Wiseman by the 1930s. Black people were here.
Shellum begins by placing the men in the context of their time and place, meaning the late 19th century Army. A few of them were old enough to have been slaves as children, but most were part of the first generation born into emancipation. Of course, that freedom rarely translated into economic opportunity, and the Service was one of the few somewhat safe bets for a young Black man.
Hovey does seem to have been a good man, and for his time, relatively progressive on race issues. It’s easy today to view as exploitive a white man commanding a company of soldiers who, owing to skin color alone, could not enjoy the basic freedoms offered by the country they were serving. But in 1899, Hovey would have been ahead of his time.
Strict color lines existed in Skagway; Black people were barred from numerous businesses and saloons. Yet other shop owners welcomed them. Sporting events, and especially baseball, seem to have been where the closest thing to integration occurred. Pointing to photographs from the 1900 July 4 celebration, where Black soldiers are seen mingling with locals, Shellum concludes, “This points to a form of recognition if not total acceptance.
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