The West Point Buffalo Soldier Monument History
In 1973, the United States Military Academy at West Point was the first to memorialize the achievements of Buffalo Soldiers in U.S. Army history. Framed by the Hudson Highlands and poised by the Hudson River, the Cavalry Plain on which the 9th and 10th Cavalry of the Buffalo Soldiers conducted equestrian training of the Corps of Cadets at West Point was renamed the Buffalo Soldier Field, in memory of the Buffalo Soldiers of the 9th and 10th U.S. Cavalry Regiments. In the years following, the Army and communities across the nation raised monuments to pay homage to the contributions and commitments of the Buffalo Soldier. The most prominent among them being the Buffalo Soldier Monument dedicated at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in 1992.
Since 2008, the members of Buffalo Soldiers Association of West Point have longed to enhance West Point’s current “Memorial Rock” to a monument. The Buffalo Soldier Monument will raise visibility of the Buffalo Soldier to a level that is more befitting of West Point, and in keeping with norms reflected by other monuments across the nation.
In bringing this vision to reality, the Association has established a Special Project Committee with the exclusive purpose to design, fund, build, erect, and donate to West Point a memorial that accurately and effectively depicts the Buffalo Soldier’s contributions to the United States of America, in general, and to West Point, in particular. As we embark on fundraising initiatives, we look forward to the Special Project Committee, in collaboration with West Point Museum (the oldest Army museum in the U.S), to complete the Buffalo Soldier Monument project by September 2021. The success of the Special Project Committee is imperative to commemorate the historical legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers at the United States Military Academy at West Point, and is the Association’s top priority in the near term.
Buffalo Soldiers taught horsemanship at segregated West Point. Soon a statue
will honor their service. Sculptor Eddie Dixon has created a towering Black horseman to be cast in bronze for the U.S. Military Academy
(Click on photo to read article)
About the Artist
With the approval of the academy, the nationally renowned artist Mr. Eddie Dixon has been selected for the West Point Buffalo Soldier Monument project.
Mr. Dixon's art can be found in national historical sites, the Pentagon, West Point, U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. State Department; the Smithsonian Air and Space, the Smithsonian National History museums, and in many museums and war memorial and national parks throughout the United States and in more than 50 countries abroad.
His works are in the private collections of Colin Powell, Morgan Freeman, Danny Glover, the late Alex Haley and Bill Leckey, and others. His work is also in the corporate collections of such giants as RJR Nabisco, Upjohn, Readers' Digest, Coca Cola USA, and the Annenberg and Zachery Fisher foundations.
In 1992, President George H. W. Bush declared July 25th "National Buffalo Soldier Day" in honor of Dixon's (Fort Leavenworth)
Buffalo Soldier Monument.
In further recognition, a United States postage stamp was later designed and issued in the likeness of the Buffalo Soldier Monument. October 16, 1993, "Eddie Dixon Day" was declared in Washington D.C. and New York City and on March 28, 1994 in Lubbock, Texas for outstanding accomplishments in art. That year, Felix De Weldon, sculptor of the Iwo Jima Monument, passed on the coveted Baton to Dixon.
For more about Mr. Dixon, go to: http://www.eddiedixon.com/
