The Toledo Buffalo Soldiers MC are honored to announce that last week in Columbus HB 238 was signed by Governor DeWine declaring July 28 Buffalo Soldier Day in Ohio for not only 2022 but subsequent years going forward. The legislation honoring the service of the original members of the cavalry and infantry units formed following the Civil War.
The legislation authorizing those units was passed July 28, 1866, 156 years ago. HB 238 was introduced by Dist. 44 Rep Paula Hicks-Hudson and co-sponsored by Dist. 26 Rep. Erica Crawley. The legislation was first introduced in March of 2021 before receiving unanimous approval in both chambers and reaching the governor’s desk earlier this week.
Hicks-Hudson is a member of the Toledo Buffalo Soldiers MC whose members testified in support of the bill at the hearings held in the statehouse.
Ohio becomes the first state to honor Buffalo Soldiers in this way although a national Buffalo Soldier Day was declared by President George H W Bush in 1992.
Ohio is also home to the Charles Young National Monument in Wilberforce, OH and the city of Toledo is site for numerous Buffalo Soldier burial sites.