![]() “As I and my forefathers did, we figured if we showed our hearts to the American people and did the American thing, they would overlook our blackness, quit rejecting us and accept us,” he said. He also naively thought it would offer some resolution to the uneasy racial climate in which he lived. In quitting his job at local Camp Carson, he joined the Army with full comprehension he would never gain economic prosperity or full citizenship in his hometown. ![]() ![]() 8, 1941, radio address encouraging citizens to defend their country against Axis forces. Nichols became interested in the military after hearing President Franklin D. In addition to his family's financial struggles, Nichols juggled trying to find comfort in his racial identity amidst growing up in a multi-ethnic neighborhood in a city where the social climate closely resembled a caste society, he said. To help support his family, Nichols collected firewood, cleaned ashpits and delivered newspapers as young as 5 years old during a time when there was no public assistance, he said. The three-fourths Native American and black youngster grew up destitute in quasi-integrated Colorado Springs, Colo. The 6-foot, 170-pound Nichols, whose smooth, golden brown skin and limber movement belies his age, was reared under circumstances that made it difficult to cultivate any sense of self-worth. “We had men of honor who sacrificed their lives for this country and for black people – to allow them to raise their heads in dignity,” said the Chesterfield Country resident and a founding member of the Mark Matthews Chapter Petersburg, Virginia Inc., 9th and 10th (Horse) Cavalry Association “Buffalo Soldiers” based in Petersburg. He also said he has seen enough dereliction, death and destruction among his fellow Soldiers to be a loud and adamant voice for educating Americans about the famed black cavalrymen. The 90-year-old former mounted horseman wore the patch of the first Buffalo Soldier unit – the 10th Cavalry Regiment – during World War II and is well-versed on the lives of black fighting men during the era, which he described as subservient and often degrading. ![]() He is a 22-year Army retiree who knows a bit about the Buffalo Soldiers. One hundred and fifty years after the first Buffalo Soldiers rode from stables at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and later fought in several wars and battles leading up to World War II, their noble deeds are largely confined to black history month events and somewhat ignored in school history books, according John Nichols. The Buffalo Soldiers’ enduring legacy was borne out of the exploits of those audacious and daring enough to ride into a largely unknown and dangerous western frontier, represent a government that considered them second-class citizens and risk their lives as a down payment toward their dignity and freedom. ![]()
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