A T-shirt worn by during a Juneteenth performance on her 鈥淐owboy Carter鈥� tour has sparked a discussion over how Americans frame their history and caused a wave of criticism for the Houston-born superstar.
The T-shirt worn during a concert in Paris featured images of the Buffalo Soldiers, who belonged to Black U.S. Army units active during the late 1800s and early 1900s. On the back was a lengthy description of the soldiers that included 鈥淭heir antagonists were the enemies of peace, order and settlement: warring Indians, bandits, cattle thieves, murderous gunmen, bootleggers, trespassers, and Mexican revolutionaries.鈥�
Images of the shirt and videos of the performance are also featured on 叠别测辞苍肠茅鈥檚 website.
As she prepares to return to the U.S. for performances in her hometown this weekend, fans and Indigenous influencers took to social media to criticize 叠别测辞苍肠茅 for framing Native Americans and Mexican revolutionaries as anything but the victims of American imperialism and promoting anti-Indigenous language.
A publicist for 叠别测辞苍肠茅 did not respond to requests for comment.
Who were the Buffalo Soldiers?
The Buffalo Soldiers served in six military units created after the Civil War in 1866. They were comprised formerly enslaved men, freemen, and Black Civil War soldiers and fought in hundreds of conflicts 鈥� including in the Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II 鈥� until they were disbanded in 1951.
As the quote on 叠别测辞苍肠茅鈥檚 shirt notes, they also fought numerous battles against Indigenous peoples as part of the U.S. Army's campaign of violence and land theft during the country's westward expansion.
Some historians say the moniker 鈥淏uffalo Soldiers鈥� was bestowed by the tribes who admired the bravery and tenacity of the fighters, but that might be more legend than fact. 鈥淎t the end of the day, we really don鈥檛 have that kind of information,鈥� said Cale Carter, director of exhibitions at the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum in Houston.
Carter and other museum staff said that, only in the past few years, the museum made broader efforts to include more of the complexities of the battles the Buffalo Soldiers fought against Native Americans and Mexican revolutionaries and the role they played in the subjugation of Indigenous peoples. They, much like many other museums across the country, are hoping to add more nuance to the framing of American history and be more respectful of the ways they have .
鈥淲e romanticize the Western frontier,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he early stories that talked about the Buffalo Soldiers were impacted by a lot of those factors. So you really didn鈥檛 see a changing in that narrative until recently.鈥�
There has often been a lack of diverse voices discussing the way Buffalo Soldiers history is framed, said Michelle Tovar, the museum's director of education. The current political climate has put enormous pressure on schools, including those in Texas, to avoid honest discussions about American history, she said.
鈥淩ight now, in this area, we are getting push back from a lot of school districts in which we can鈥檛 go and teach this history," Tovar said. "We are a museum where we can at least be a hub, where we can invite the community regardless of what districts say, invite them to learn it and do what we can do the outreach to continue to teach honest history.鈥�
Historians scrutinize reclamation motive
叠别测辞苍肠茅's recent album 鈥淎ct II: Cowboy Carter鈥� has played on a kind of American iconography, which many see as her way of subverting the country music genre's adjacency to whiteness and . Last year, she became the first Black woman ever to top Billboard's country music chart, and 鈥淐owboy Carter鈥� won her the top prize at the 2025 Grammy Awards, .
鈥淭he Buffalo Soldiers play this major role in the Black ownership of the American West,鈥� said Tad Stoermer, a historian and professor at Johns Hopkins University. 鈥淚n my view, (叠别测辞苍肠茅 is) well aware of the role that these images play. This is the 鈥楥owboy Carter鈥� tour for crying out loud. The entire tour, the entire album, the entire piece is situated in this layered narrative.鈥�
But Stoermer also points out that the Buffalo Soldier have been framed in the American story in a way that also plays into the myths of American nationalism.
As 叠别测辞苍肠茅鈥檚 use of Buffalo Soldiers imagery implies, Black Americans also use their story to claim agency over their role in the creation of the country, said Alaina E. Roberts, a historian, author and professor at Pittsburgh University who studies the intersection of Black and Native American life from the Civil War to present day.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the category in which she thought maybe she was coming into this conversation, but the Buffalo Soldiers are even a step above that because they were literally involved in not just the settlement of the West but of genocide in a sense,鈥� she said.
Online backlash builds ahead of Houston shows
Several Native influencers, performers, and academics took to social media this week to criticize 叠别测辞苍肠茅 or call the language on her shirt anti-Indigenous. 鈥淒o you think 叠别测辞苍肠茅 will apologize (or acknowledge) the shirt,鈥� indigenous.tv, an Indigenous news and culture Instagram account with more than 130,000, asked in a post Thursday.
Many of her critics, as well as fans, agree. A flood of social media posts called out the pop star for the historic framing on the shirt.
鈥淭he Buffalo Soldiers are an interesting historical moment to look at. But we have to be honest about what they did, especially in their operations against Indigenous Americans and Mexicans,鈥� said Chisom Okorafor, who posts on TikTok under the handle @confirmedsomaya.
Okorafor said there is no 鈥減rogressive鈥� way to reclaim America's history of empire building in the West, and that 叠别测辞苍肠茅鈥檚 use of Western symbolism sends a problematic message.
鈥淲hich is that Black people too can engage in American nationalism," she said. "Black people too can profit from the atrocities of American empire. It is a message that tells you to abandon immigrants, Indigenous people, and people who live outside of the United States. It is a message that tells you not only is it a virtue to have been born in this country but the longer your line extends in this country the more virtuous you are.鈥�
Graham Lee Brewer, The Associated Press
