February 7, 2001

Yosemite National Park Celebrates Black History Month At the turn of the last century, more than 400 African-American soldiers patrolled Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. In honor of these men and to celebrate Black History Month, Yosemite National Park's Wilderness Education Project, with support from the Yosemite Fund, launches a website to celebrate this hidden history.

This web site http://www.shadowsoldier.org provides an interactive medium for students and adults to learn about Sierra Nevada history and the role of African-Americans in protecting the Range of Light.The web site tells this story from the modern day perspective of Shelton Johnson, an African-American Park Ranger working in Yosemite National Park.

Using primary historic documents, music, poetry and prose, the web site tells the story of these men who patrolled the wilderness of the Sierra on horseback. As military stewards, the African-American cavalry and infantry regiments protected the park from illegal grazing and poaching. Their patrol routes ranged from Hetch Hetchy Valley in northwest Yosemite National Park to Devil's Postpile National Monument on the eastern slope..

Here in the Sierra Nevada, the soldiers endured long days in the saddle, slim rations,racism and estrangement from family and friends. Even so, they and their officers called the Sierra a "Cavalryman's Paradise." Charles Young, the third African American graduate from West Point, became military superintendent of Sequoia National Park in the summer of 1903.

"The fact that African-Americans were among the first protectors of the Sierra Nevada comes as a surprise to many of us," said Ranger Johnson. "African-Americans played pivotal roles in shaping the American West. This is our attempt to restore one of these little-known histories to the record."

Find out more by visiting: http://www.shadowsoldier.org