'Inside Buffalo' documentary tells history of Black Soldiers in Italy in WWII

The film ‘Inside Buffalo’ is the documentary of Afro-Italian director Fred Kudjo Kuwornu that tells the story of the forgotten ‘Buffalo Soldiers’.

These soldiers were African American foot soldiers of the 92nd Infantry Division who valiantly fought side-by-side with Italian partisans against the Nazis along the Gothic Line, mainly in Tuscany. Read the full story about the film here.

According to the Deutsche welle Kuwornu worked as a DJ and TV producer, until American movie director Spike Lee inspired him to become an independent filmmaker. In 2008, Lee was shooting a feature film on location in Tuscany, based on a novel about black American soldiers. Kuwornu worked as an extra on the feature film. It became the starting point for a very personal voyage of discovery for Fred Kuwornu culminating in his documentary 'Inside Buffalo'.



Kuwornu's father is Ghanaian and his mother is from Tuscany, making him one of the few mixed race Italians growing up in northern Italy in the 1970s. He is planning on doing more films on topics like racism, dialogue and human rights in the future.

The film '‘Inside Buffalo’ reminds of the story of the French Black soldiers 'Le Tirailleurs Senegalais' (Senegalees Riflemen)'. These soldiers were deliberately removed from the unit that led the Allied advance into the French capital. They were removed because British and American commanders wanted to ensure that the liberation of Paris on 25 August 1944 was seen as a "whites only" victory. Read the whole post here.

Shouldn't we have Black European History month?