Buffalo Soldiers became America's first park rangers

The National Park Service turns 110 this week, and its history includes a detail that rarely makes the brochures. Some of the country's first park rangers were Buffalo Soldiers, the African American troops who served in all-Black U.S. Army regiments starting in 1866. When Yellowstone and other early parks needed protecting from herders grazing sheep across the land, the Army stepped in. The 24th Infantry became the first Buffalo Soldier regiment to take on the job at Yosemite in 1899. "The farmers knew the trails into the Sequoia long before anybody else," historian Brian Shellum told History. In 1903, Captain Charles Young became the acting superintendent of Sequoia, the first African American to hold the role. The NPS now spans 433 sites across all 50 states. On Tuesday, the official anniversary, parks that normally charge entry fees will waive them for U.S. residents. The rangers who started it rode in on horseback.