NEWS

Help Bring Alive The Legacy of Isaiah Mays

More African-American History Revealed

Join The Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club of Phoenix, Arizona and their president, Mr. Chaz Jackson, in rectifying one of America’s most serious and grave habits of systematically omitting crucial events and facts from American history that pertain to African-American contributions to the building and growth of this country. A Recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, Isaiah Mays was an ex-slave… an original Buffalo Soldier, who gave outstanding service to our country and yet, he is a forgotten hero. The remains of Isaiah Mays desperately need an appropriate and honorable burial place. The Arizona Chapter of the Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club leads this admirable and urgent campaign to get the burial place of this amazing hero changed to Arlington Cemetery in Washington, D. C. His remains presently lay near trash dumpsters, alone in an area located behind a hospital parking lot, locked behind a chain link fence. Isolated from the public, his grave has only recently received a headstone. Behind this locked fence, no one can honor him and the contributions he made during his remarkable military career.
Join the fight to get Isaiah Mays’ remains moved to its rightful place… in Arlington Cemetery by gathering signatures on petitions that will be hand-carried to Congress for approval and relocation. If we do not value our history, who will?
            For more information contact: Chaz Jackson & the Arizona Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Riders Club, and be sure to watch for them this January 3, 2009 in the Fiesta Bowl Parade. Petitions may be mailed to:

Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Riders Club
c/o Chaz Jackson
P O Box 8242, Phoenix, Arizona 85066

Download the petition.

Download official release.

BIKE NIGHT

SATURDAY AUGUST 9 AT 7:00 PM (1900 hours)

Respects to a Buffalo Soldier, an American Hero, on this Saturday May 17, 2008.
The Arizona Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Riders Club and A.J. Miller-Democratic Party Sponsor. Our goal is to get this Hero's Headstone to the Arlington National Military Cemetery in Virginia and give him full Military burial honors which he earned.
We are not the first to take on the task for Cpl. Mays. Others before us helped to get the headstone and refurbish the cemetery with grass, but the fight is not over until we secure Cpl Mays his proper resting place at Arlington National Cemetery in Virgina.
Cpl. Isaiah Mays, who was born a slave, enlisted in the US Army and was a Buffalo Soldier. In May, 1889 -Arizona Territory- Major Joseph Washington Wham takes charge of approximately $28,000 dollars in gold and silver to pay troops at various points in the Arizona Territory. While escorting the Army paymaster, two members of the 24th Infantry Regiment (Buffalo Soldiers) took heroic action to fend off a violent robbery attempt by masked cowboys. Sgt. Benjamin Brown and Cpl. Isaiah Mays (both Black Soldiers) received the Congressional Medal of Honor for their bravery. Eight Soldiers were wounded and eight of the attackers were arrested.
Cpl. Mays, with gunshots to his legs, crawled two miles to a ranch to seek help for the other wounded soldiers. Mays and Sgt. Brown, who was also shot, were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Mays was discharged in 1893, and later tried unsuccessfully to secure his pension. Know one knows why, but officials believe Mays wound up at the Arizona State hospital after becoming indigent and suffering from depression.
He died May 2, 1925, and was buried in the Arizona State Hospital's Cemetery without a Marker.
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