Buffalo Soldiers National Museum

The museum was founded in 2001 by Paul J. Matthews, a Vietnam veteran and military historian who had spent more than thirty years gathering the uniforms, weapons, flags, photographs and papers of Black American soldiers. About half of what is on display came from his own collection. The museum takes its name and inspiration from the Buffalo Soldiers, but it covers the whole of African American military service, from the Revolutionary War to the Persian Gulf War.

In November 2012 the museum moved from Southmore Boulevard to the Houston Light Guard Armory on Caroline Street, a 23,000-square-foot building put up in 1925 for one of the oldest National Guard companies in Texas. The galleries there are run largely by volunteers, among them members of the Ninth and Tenth (Horse) Cavalry Association. Tours are interactive. Reenactors in period dress portray figures such as Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass and invite questions, and the museum also works with schools and other Houston institutions, including the Museum of Fine Arts and the Menil Collection.

The museum stands in Midtown, less than a mile from Emancipation Park, and a visit to both makes a half day.