Despite occasional attempts to kick Black soldiers out of the U.S. Army, as Woodrow Wilson had done with the Navy -- might make the N*****s uppity -- there were four regiments of Blacks in the army, earning a living and defending this nation. They were called Buffalo Soldiers. Among their commanding officers were General Frederick Dent Grant, sometimes U.S. Minister to Austria-Hungary (that's what we called our ambassadors back then). He was also the eldest son of General Ulysses S Grant, President of these United States.
It's a very simple picture for 1900: Grant and Brigadier General Andrew Sheridan Burt -- who has enlisted in the ranks during the Civil War and eventually became the commanding general of the entire U.S. Army -- ride their horses from the upper left corner of the frame to the lower right corner. In their dust march their soldiers: Black men.
Talk about your subversive cinema! I'll bet this one didn't play much in the South. Except in the Black theaters.