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DENTON – The Buffalo Soldiers Maryland Eastern Shore Motorcycle Club held their 27th annual show and cookout Saturday, June 13, at the 4-H Park near Denton.
Attracting many of its more than 100 members and those from chapters in other states, the fundraising event also featured a car show and sound competition, and members awarded $2,000 scholarships.
Receiving the three scholarships were Destiny Strawberry, Tayshaun Roberts and Dieudelove Pierre.
“We began BSMDES on Feb.2, 2001, Maryland Buffalo Soldier Day; however, our first annual event was June 9, 2001, in Cambridge,” said retired educator Dale Kevin Brown I. “The next several years the events were held at my home (near Greensboro) until we moved to the Caroline County 4-H Park facility.”
Brown, 70, whose assigned road name is “Dawg Ketcher,” is the founding president of BSMDES and the longest standing consecutive term-elected national officer.
The national organization’s 120 chapters honors the nation’s Buffalo Soldiers with charity fundraisers, scholarships, honor escorts, work projects, presentations to local groups, road trips and events.
Buffalo Soldiers were African American warriors, and in many cases former enslaved men, who first served in the old West following the Civil War. Legend has it that they earned the title from Native Americans who admired their tenacious bravery. Black soldiers since then have claimed a special kinship with those warriors in every war since.
Brown, an Oxford native with deep Eastern Shore roots andancestors who were expert sailmakers and farmers, is the great-great-great grandson of Nathaniel Hopkins, the Trappe native known affectionately as “Uncle Nace,” who established the only Emancipation Day parade that has been held continuously since Nov. 1, 1867, and has since been called Nace’s Day.
Brown and his wife of 24 years, Tina, are avid motorcyclists. They have made friends nationwide through the club and have taken many road trips on their bikes. Brown also collects a wide variety of Buffalo Soldier memorabilia and artifacts.
“One of the things that we're proud of is that with any event we have, you can invite your wife or your girlfriend,” he said.
His leather vest is replete with insignia demonstrating his pride in the national and local organizations, as well as other groups he’s affiliated with. The national organization is the National Association of Buffalo Soldiers and Troopers Motorcycle Club (NABSTMC) was founded in 1993 to promote the history of the 9th and 10th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers. The club attracts many members who are or have been in the armed forces and law enforcement, firefighters, high level security personnel, and educators.
Brown, who has been riding motorcycles since he was 10, owns several bikes, including a Harley Davidson Dyna Wide Glide, a Road King Classic, and an Ultra Classic. He also enjoys restoring classic cars.
“I'm retired now, (and) I do things to help out any way I can.” Brown said Membership in the club has “been a fun experience. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.”
For more information about becoming a member or associate member, visit Buffalo Soldiers Maryland Eastern Shore Motorcycle Club MC on Facebook.
