Fifty-two African American men served as Texas legislators during Reconstruction. They were farmers, builders, lawmen, teachers, merchants, and preachers. Most were literate, which was remarkable given that the majority had been enslaved. They built public schools, protected homesteads, founded Prairie View A&M University, organized labor, and argued against lynching on the floor of the Texas legislature. By 1883 the last Black state senator was gone. By 1899 the last Black state House member was gone. The silence lasted 84 years.
During Reconstruction, Black men served in both chambers of the Texas legislature, held county offices across the state, and shaped some of the most important legislation in Texas history. Walter Moses Burton co-founded Prairie View A&M University from the Texas Senate. George T. Ruby organized the Labor Union of Colored Men in Galveston while serving in that same chamber. Matthew Gaines fought for public schools and homestead protections while facing false criminal charges twice. Robert Lloyd Smith argued against lynching from the state House floor in the 1890s. Every one of them was eventually removed, voted out, or barred from returning through violence, fraud, and legal suppression.
Reconstruction · 1867–1899
Texas Senate & House
Walter Moses Burton
State Senator · 1874–1883 · First Black elected sheriff in the U.S., Fort Bend County, 1869 · Co-founder, Prairie View A&M University
George T. Ruby
State Senator, Galveston, Brazoria & Matagorda Counties · Reconstruction · Organized the Labor Union of Colored Men
Matthew Gaines
State Senator · Reconstruction · Born enslaved · Fought for public schools and homestead protections · Tried twice on false charges · Acquitted both times
Robert Lloyd Smith
State Representative, District 43, Colorado County · Seated January 8, 1895 · Departed January 10, 1899 · Founder, Farmers Improvement Society of Texas · Argued against lynching on the House floor
and 48 additional legislators
Texas Senate & House · 1867–1899
The Silence · 1883–1967
1883
No names. No representatives. No senators. No voice in government. Eighty-four years of silence — in a state that was built with Black labor and defended with Black votes.
1967
Restoration · 1967–Present
On January 10, 1967, the 60th Texas Legislature convened with three Black members for the first time since 1899. Barbara Jordan entered the Texas Senate, representing Houston's 11th District — the first Black state senator in Texas since Reconstruction. Curtis Graves entered the Texas House, representing Houston. Joe Lockridge entered the Texas House, representing Dallas County's 33rd District. Three firsts, two chambers, two cities, one session. The 68-year silence ended not with one person but with three, simultaneously.
Barbara Jordan
State Senate · First Black Texas state senator since Walter Moses Burton left in 1883 · Seated January 10, 1967 · 84 years of Senate silence ended
Curtis Graves
State House · Houston · Seated January 10, 1967 · Co-first with Joe Lockridge (Dallas) — first two Black state House members since Reconstruction · Civil rights activist
Joe Lockridge
State House, 33rd District, Dallas County · Seated January 10, 1967 · Co-first with Curtis Graves (Houston) — first two Black state House members since Reconstruction · Elected Rookie of the Year by colleagues · Died in office 1968, aged 35
Barbara Jordan
U.S. House of Representatives · First African American to represent Texas in Congress since Reconstruction · First southern African American woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives
52
Legislators Elected
1867–1899
3
Break the Silence
January 1967
The silence is not ancient history. It is the world your grandparents were born into. The churches, schools, and Masonic lodges that Black Texans built during the silence are monuments to survival without representation. Help us find them.
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Njila · The Ancestral Pathway
