Mid-Internship Recap with Leah Alonzo

My time so far at the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum has been nothing short of inspiring. I am constantly learning new things about communications and American history all at the same time. I have loved history for as long as I can remember, I even scored a 100% on my History TAKS test in the 3rd grade (for which I am very proud lol). This interest in all things history really made me want to join the team here at BSNM. As soon as I stepped foot into the building I knew that this was the place I wanted to spend my summer internship.

I have so many moments that have been so great this far into my internship. One of my favorite moments so far was being able to be a part of putting on two virtual tours here at the museum. Due to the pandemic, everyone has had to get more creative with how they can reach their audiences and the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum is no different. My participation in any sort of virtual event prior to this internship has been zero, so I was excited to see how putting one on would work. The first virtual tour was conducted through Zoom and I believe it was for a university or college to help educate about the importance of Black History and Juneteenth. The second virtual tour was conducted through the Comcast version of Zoom and was for a school in Pflugerville. This was my favorite audience because they were young students all tuning in from home, and they had a bunch of questions for our tour guide Trooper Page. Following our tour guide around with the iPad as I was broadcasting these tours made me feel like a VIP getting my own private tour.

Trooper Page was incredibly knowledgeable on all the items housed here at the BSNM. My favorite parts of the tour would have to be the African American Athletes Breaking Barriers Exhibit, the NASA Exhibit aka the Modern Day Buffalo Soldiers, and the Cathy Williams Exhibit. Just like most of the exhibits in the museum, all of these contain stories of triumph and individuals overcoming some sort of societal constraint placed on them. I really connected with all of these incredible stories and I have been telling anyone who will listen to come to the museum and see these stories in person. If you’re able to, I’d schedule a tour with a docent because they can tell you more about the exhibits than the descriptions ever could. Either way the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum is one of Houston’s hidden gems and I am so glad that I found them!