About Buffalo Soldiers: Fighting on Two Fronts
Established by Congress in 1867, the post-Civil War African American regiment of the US Army, known as the Buffalo Soldiers, fought military conflicts abroad and civil right struggles at home. Many African American men enlisted in exchange for full citizenship as promised by the 14th Amendment but were denied this right by the Jim Crow laws established in the Reconstructionist South. In spite of that, these patriotic men helped lead the United States expansion westward; they built and guarded the Pacific Railroad and served as park rangers in places like Yosemite before the US government established the National Park Service. The story of the Buffalo Soldiers involves historical complexities like race, class, power, colonialism, and western expansion.
The documentary film Buffalo Soldiers: Fighting on Two Fronts focuses on these Black men, named and nameless, who were part of this complicated history of the American West. It was named Pacific Northwest Best Documentary at the Tacoma Film Festival, winning the Audience Choice Award in 2022.
Dru Holley is a director and producer who is passionate about producing inspiring stories that empower viewers to re-think broken systems. He graduated from the Art Institute of Colorado, where he specialized in video broadcasting. Dru was selected by iconic African American filmmaker Stanley Nelson for the prestigious 2020 Firelight Documentary Lab Fellowship, Black Public Media 360 Incubator, and 2022 Better Angels Levine fellowship. He recently collaborated on the development of four short-form episodes on the past, present, and future of the Albina Vision Project in Oregon and is now in pre-pre-production on the documentary Exonerated. Buffalo Soldiers: Fighting on Two Fronts is his feature directorial debut.
