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First black state convention meets in Austin
On this day in 1866, the Texas State Central Committee of Colored Men
met in Austin. It was the first of at least ten such conventions held in
Texas from Reconstruction through the 1890s to express the concerns of
African Americans in an era before the existence of groups that focused
upon the economic, political, and civil rights of minorities. Often
these state meetings sent delegates to national conventions seeking the
same goals. The Texas State Central Committee of Colored Men, with the
Baptist minister Jacob Fontaine presiding, opposed a request by
Episcopal bishop Alexander Gregg for funds which presumably would have
benefited former slaves. The committee members did not trust Gregg,
himself a former slaveholder and ardent supporter of secession, and
expressed their preference for the work of the Freedmen's Bureau.
- Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
- BLACK STATE CONVENTIONS
- FONTAINE, JACOB
- GREGG, ALEXANDER
- FREEDMEN'S BUREAU
- RECONSTRUCTION
- AFRICAN AMERICANS
- Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
- March on Washington falters in desert (1894)
- Texas Navy schooner seizes mercantile brig; friction with U.S. ensues (1836)
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