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FORT HUACHUCA — Cathay Williams came alive Tuesday, more than eight decades after her death.
For two years of the former slave’s life, she pretended not only to be a man, but a soldier serving in a black infantry unit from 1866 to 1868.
During those two years she was known as William Cathay, using a ploy of reversing her real name, thus hiding her gender so she could serve as a Buffalo Soldier.
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A spotlight shone on an empty chair on the Greely Hall auditorium stage.
Strolling out from partially closed curtains was Melissa Waddy-Thibodeaux, assuming the persona of the only known female Buffalo Soldier.
The combination actress, storyteller and playwright was in full character, wearing a symbolic infantry uniform of the post Civil War period.
Her 40 years experience in the theater allowed Waddy-Thibodeaux to easily become Williams.
The nearly 400 people in the audience were part of a combination celebration of Women’s History Month and the post’s year-long honoring of the Buffalo Soldier.
Welcoming Waddy-Thibodeaux was Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast, commander of the Intelligence Center and the fort.
For American women, the path to success in society has improved since the days of Williams, the general said.
But the same cannot be said for women in other parts of the world, Fast added. “Women have made great strides in America over the past century, and they have made even greater strides in the past decade in many parts of the world,” the general remarked.
However, in places where American forces are now serving in harm’s way, women have not had positive experiences, Fast said, speaking of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Fast noted that under Saddam Hussein less than 25 percent of Iraqi women could read and write and during the Taliban rule in Afghanistan women could not work outside their home and were denied a basic education.
“But, thanks to the efforts of American servicemen and women, women today are voting in Iraq and being educated in Afghanistan,” the general said.
Women’s History Month is an opportunity for all to be reminded of the accomplishments of women throughout the ages, and that includes Cathay Williams, also known as William Cathay, she said.
It is only fitting that part of the month of March, dedicated to women, be joined to the fort’s 12-month celebration of the Buffalo Solider and that combination is the story of a former slave who became a Buffalo Soldier, Fast said.
Before Waddy-Thibodeaux went into her character performance, Staff Sgt. Shalonda Thomas set the stage with a little history of the times Williams faced and Sgt. 1st Class Debra Smith recited a poem about the only known woman Buffalo Soldier.
Waddy-Thibodeaux’s portrayal through movements and words created a brief look into the life of Williams, from slave to soldier to a woman who lived until she was 82, dying in 1924, somewhere in New Mexico.
For the presenter, not knowing where Williams’ remains are is a mystery, something she wants to solve.
It is not known whether Williams ever wrote anything of her experiences, but her story was told by others through the woman’s oral history, Waddy-Thibodeaux said. Only two men knew she was a woman when she enlisted in the Army — her cousin and a friend — and neither of them betrayed her, she said.
An illness finally caused her gender to be discovered, which led to her dismissal from the Army, the actress remarked. Speaking in the role of Williams, Waddy-Thibodeaux said when she enlisted the white doctors were not interested in doing physicals of blacks and the only medical inspection was of a person’s teeth.
The long, hard marching finally took its toll, and one day in 1868, Cathay collapsed, and when she came to in an infirmary her secret had been revealed.
For more than a half century, she lived on, working as a cook in Colorado and New Mexico.
Misdiagnosed with diabetes, the toes on her feet were amputated, but even then Williams was determined to stand, doing so until her death.
For Waddy-Thibodeaux, Williams was the personification of a strong-willed women, a person who called the West home.
And, what made the woman strong was her service as a Buffalo Soldier, even though she had to play a man to do it, she said.
Woman of many characters
Melissa Waddy-Thibodeaux portrays a number of historic black women. A graduate of Sterling High School in Houston, Texas, she graduated from Lon Morris College in Jacksonville, Texas. An actress, storyteller and playwright who researches the people she portrays, Waddy-Thibodeaux is the president and chief executive officer of Flying Geese Productions, which specializes in educational productions.
Tuesday, she performed as Cathay Williams, who as William Cathay, enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1866, serving as a Buffalo Soldier in an infantry unit, until her real sex was discovered in 1868.
Waddy-Thibodeaux also portrays:
- Sojourner Truth who lived from 1797 to 1883 and was an ex-slave, abolitionist and women’s rights advocate.
- Harriet Tubman called the Moses of her people for smuggling blacks out of the south using the underground railroad. Tubman lived from 1822 to 1913.
- Rosa Parks, called the Mother of Modern Day Civil Rights Movement who in 1955 refused to give up a seat on a public bus in Montgomery, Ala. She lived from 1913 to 2005.
Waddy-Thibodeaux said she is thinking about including Moms Mabley, the black comedienne who lived from 1894 to 1975, who became famous to white audiences in the 1960s using humor to fight racism.
Herald/Review senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615.
or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
nicole ray wrote on Jun 21, 2009 3:35 PM: