The MAMF February 2025 Facebook Banner Ceilon Aspensen, February 2, 2025 February is Black History month. MAMF (Museum of the American Military Family) has chosen to honor Black History Month, and has also chosen a theme of “love” for February. They chose these themes back in the fall, but it seems apt for our current times. I live in Montana, very close to Yellowstone National Park. A few years ago, I did a colored pencil drawing of a Bison I had taken a picture of for a Valentine’s Day card I created in 2023. When Dr. Circe Olson-Woessner gave me the two possible themes of Black History Month and Love, the two ideas collided in my mind in the image you see here. Not everyone knows about the Buffalo Soldiers, an all Black Calvary regiment of soldiers created in 1866 by an Act of Congress.1 They were only allowed to serve west of the Mississippi River and were part of the westward expansion movement.2 In Montana, we are familiar with the Buffalo Soldiers because of their time spent in Yellowstone National Park. “The men were a part of a group called the Fort Missoula Buffalo Soldier Bicycle Corps. Their job, according to park historians, wasn’t easy at all. The group journeyed 1,900 miles from Missoula, Montana, to St. Louis in an effort to test how effective bicycles would be for the military.”3 As an Army Brat, I wonder about their families. Did these men have families? Did they travel with them the way we traveled with our enlisted family members? Did they forego having families because of the nature of their mission? You can learn more about the Buffalo soldiers, including how they got their name, by following the links I’ve included in the footnotes. The image I created for this month’s MAMF Facebook banner includes a piece of art that I created (the bison with the heart), a photo of some of the Buffalo Soldiers from the Library of Congress (public domain license), a photo of a single dandelion fluff (public domain license), and a photo of a field of dandelion fluff (Equalicense). The dandelion is the adopted symbol of military BRATs everywhere because we all went wherever the winds blew us. I can’t think of a more apt symbol for the Buffalo Soldiers as well, as they were blown all over the American west. 1 “The Proud Legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers | National Museum of African American History and Culture.” n.d. Nmaahc.si.edu. https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/proud-legacy-buffalo-soldiers. 2 Ibid 3 YellowstoneVisitors.com. 2017. “Yellowstone History – Buffalo Soldiers.” YellowstoneVisitors.com. 2017. https://www.yellowstonevisitors.com/articles/yellowstone-history-buffalo-soldiers. Please follow and like us: Art Military Brat Culture black history monthbuffalo soldiersloveMAMFmuseum of the american military familyyellowstoneyellowstone national park