University of Montana Black Student Union 25th Infantry Bicycle Corps Ride Re-enactment Photographs, 1974

The first Black Student Union (BSU) at the University of Montana was formed during the 1968-69 academic year. That year, the student group lobbied for three things: that courses on black history and culture be taught on campus, that UM actively recruit black students, and that two black professors be hired to teach those classes. In 1969, Ulysses Doss, a young minister from Chicago, was hired and he began developing a Black Studies program.

In 1974, BSU, along with Black Studies program instructors Pferron Doss and Richard Smith, organized a reenactment of the 25th Infantry Bicycle Corps ride. The 25th Infantry was an all-black infantry corps, who, in 1897, cycled from Missoula, Montana, to St. Louis, Missouri, to test the feasibility of cycling for military purposes. As one BSU member wrote in the 1974-75 issue Watani, the BSU yearbook, the students recreated the journey to "feel a portion of history's untold past." Bernestine Smith, Lynda Smith, Miriam Martin, Cheryl Ryan, Glenda Eruteya, Richard Smith, Richard Smith II, Michael T. Doss, Pferron L. Doss, David Watson, Carl Franklin, Michael Shaw, Brian Orr, and Jose Velez participated in the 1974 reenactment ride.

BSU created bright yellow t-shirts printed with "25th Infantry Bicycle Corps" to wear during the ride. They left Missoula on June 14, 1974, the same day the original Bicycle Corps had 77 years before. The group followed the infantry's original route, cycled 1,900 miles, and reached St. Louis on July 24-the same day the soldiers had arrived.