Bill Text: CA SCR128 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: The Buffalo Soldiers.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2)
Status: (Passed) 2016-06-09 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Res. Chapter 70, Statutes of 2016. [SCR128 Detail]
Download: California-2015-SCR128-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: SCR 128 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
RESOLUTION CHAPTER 70
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE JUNE 9, 2016
ADOPTED IN SENATE MAY 2, 2016
ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 6, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 27, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Senators Mendoza and Hall
APRIL 6, 2016
Relative to the Buffalo Soldiers.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SCR 128, Mendoza. The Buffalo Soldiers.
This measure would honor the Buffalo Soldiers for changing the
face of the United States Armed Forces forever through their record
of unique accomplishments.
WHEREAS, On July 28, 1866, by an act of the United States
Congress, African American men were allowed to join the post-Civil
War army in special segregated units -- the 9th and 10th Cavalry
Regiments of the United States Army; and
WHEREAS, Comprised of former slaves, freemen, and black Civil War
soldiers, the Buffalo Soldiers were the first African Americans to
serve in the United States Army during peacetime. During the latter
period of the nineteenth century, the soldiers of the 9th and 10th
Cavalry Regiments were assigned to Fort Riley, Kansas, and other
areas of the Midwest, where they endeavored to maintain order between
Native Americans and the settlers arriving in those areas, built
forts and roads, patrolled borders, and protected mail coaches and
railroad construction crews; and
WHEREAS, Out of respect for their courage and fighting spirit, as
well as for the dark curly appearance of their hair and the thick
coats made from buffalo hide that these soldiers wore during winter,
the Native Americans of the Midwestern plains honored the members of
the 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments with the nickname of "Buffalo
Soldiers"; and
WHEREAS, When the Indian Wars ended in the 1890s, the Buffalo
Soldiers went on to fight in Cuba during the 1898 Spanish-American
War and thereafter acted as rangers in Yosemite and Sequoia National
Parks; and
WHEREAS, The Buffalo Soldiers of the regular African American army
regiments were among the first to serve as park rangers in the newly
created National Park Service; and
WHEREAS, Approximately 500 Buffalo Soldiers from the 9th, 10th,
24th, and 25th Regiments served in Yosemite and nearby Sequoia
National Parks, with duties ranging from evicting poachers and timber
thieves to extinguishing forest fires; and
WHEREAS, The accomplishments of the Buffalo Soldiers as park
rangers include building the first trail to the top of Mount Whitney
in Sequoia National Park, building the first arboretum in Yosemite
National Park, and clearing miles of trails and building roads into
the national parks for visitor enjoyment; and
WHEREAS, Colonel Charles Young, the third African American
graduate of West Point, served as acting military superintendent of
Sequoia National Park in 1903; and
WHEREAS, Despite the Buffalo Soldiers wearing the uniform of the
United States Army, performing their duties presented challenges to
overcome due to racial prejudice. Buffalo Soldiers serving in
Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks had to fulfill their duties using
perseverance and diplomacy; and
WHEREAS, During World War II, members of the Buffalo Soldiers
branched out and formed into famous units, including the 24th and
25th Infantry Divisions, the famed Tuskegee Airmen that included the
99th Pursuit Squadron, the larger 332nd Fighter "Red Tails" Group,
the 761st Tank Battalion of the Third Army, plus nearly the entire
92nd Infantry Division; and
WHEREAS, Due to Executive Order 9981 issued in 1948 by President
Harry Truman eliminating racial segregation and discrimination in the
United States Armed Forces, the last all-black units disbanded
during the first half of the 1950s, and, in 2005, the nation's oldest
living Buffalo Soldier, First Sergeant Mark Matthews, passed away in
Washington, D.C., at 111 years of age; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature honors the Buffalo Soldiers
for changing the face of the United States Armed Forces forever
through their record of unique accomplishments, which testify to
their skill, discipline, integrity, and heroism, and recognizes and
thanks their families and descendants for sharing an inspiring legacy
that speaks to the sense of excellence, potential, and patriotism
shared by all Americans; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.
