Buffalo Soldier Day
Institute of Texan Cultures offers a look at the 1870s army regiments that won the West
WHAT:
The 1870s Texas Frontier was a difficult and dangerous place. Step into the boots of a Buffalo Soldier, the African-American cavalry and infantry units that blazed the trail for modern Texas.
Texas Parks & Wildlife, the Bexar County Buffalo Soldiers Association and Buffalo Soldiers Living History and Heritage Association will team with the Institute of Texan Cultures to take families back to post-Civil War Texas, where Buffalo Soldiers scouted the frontier to build roads, install telegraph lines and protect settlers from hostile Indians.
The day’s activities on the museum’s Back 40 outdoor learning area will incorporate the area’s period structures, where living history interpreters will show the 1870s way of life, from the regiment’s military skills and drills, to leisure activities like an early version of baseball. Interpreters will immerse guests in the lives of the citizens who surrounded a military settlement: traders, laundresses, settlers, schoolmasters and others.
WHEN:
10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012
(Museum hours are 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday; noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.)
WHERE:
Institute of Texan Cultures
UTSA HemisFair Park Campus, 801 E. César E. Chávez Blvd., San Antonio, TX 78205
ADMISSION:
$8 for adults (12-64); $7 for seniors (65+); $6 for children (3-11); free with membership, UTSA or Alamo Colleges identification.
CONTACT:
For additional information, call (210) 458-2300 or visit TexanCultures.com.