Buffalo Soldiers Museum Tacoma, WA
Buffalo Soldiers Museum
The Buffalo Soldier Museum was established to honor the all-black regiment of the United States military, thanks to William Jones’ daughter, Jackie Jones-Hook, who took up her father’s request to preserve the memory of his time as a Buffalo Soldier. Despite speaking very little about his time as a prisoner of war in the Korean War, Jones’ family decided to create the museum after his death in 2009. The museum opened its doors in Tacoma in 2012 as a sanctuary for students and community members to learn about a significant yet often overlooked part of American history spanning 1866 to 1944.
The museum, a non-profit organization formally known as the 9th and 10th (Horse) Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers Museum, is one of only two such institutions in the country that pay homage to the Buffalo Soldiers, the other being the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum in Houston. The museum offers an extensive collection of military artifacts, books, articles, and DVDs from Jones’ military service to educate the public.