preview

Buffalo Soldiers Meaning

Decent Essays

Buffalo Soldier is a song written by Bob Marley and Noel G. Williams in 1980. It is about the African slaves who were brought to America to serve in the military. Bob Marley discoursed the themes of human rights and social justice to draw attention to black slavery. The term ‘Buffalo Soldier’ was used for the black cavalry soldiers fought against the Native Americans during Indian War between 1867 and 1870. As a singer who is considered as the political voice, Bob Marley once again emphasized on an important social issue of the history. Africa had been the target of colonialism and slavery for many years. The colonies that European’s developed during fifteenth and sixteenth century were the main reason that started slave trade in Africa. …show more content…

He says that the British ‘stole’ Africans from their homeland and their families for their own good. The line ‘fighting on arrival, fighting for survival’ indicates two ideas about the soldier; first, they were sent to war as soon as they arrived and second, they were not only in a war for the U.S government but also for themselves. They faced with racial discrimination; they would paid less then a white soldier did and experience a greater threat when captured by the Confederate Army then a white did. He somehow correlates buffalo soldier with Rastafarians. Buffalo soldiers had crimped hair which gave them their name, whereas Rastafarians are best know by their hair style -dreadlocks. The 2 group have one more thing in common; ‘their histories were never been adequately told’ (Smith 18). On the following lines ‘if you know your history, then you would know where you are coming from’ Marley is trying to point out the importance of Africans at the wars that U.S Army had involved, and how they played an important role at establishment of U.S government. In his essay, Smith said that Marley sees the poverty in today’s society as the modern version of the slavery culture that

Get Access