BROWN, ED (ca. 1840-?). Ed Brown, black state representative, was born around 1840 in Alabama. He was a carpenter who apparently lived in Rusk County. He won election to the legislature in 1874 and served a single term. He was one of six black legislators elected to the Fourteenth Legislature and served on the Agriculture and Stock Raising Committee. In the legislature he opposed efforts to dilute African-American voting strength by redrawing county boundaries.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Mason Brewer, Negro Legislators of Texas and Their Descendants (Dallas: Mathis, 1935; 2d ed., Austin: Jenkins, 1970). Randolph B. Campbell, A Southern Community in Crisis: Harrison County, Texas, 1850-1880 (Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1983). Merline Pitre, Through Many Dangers, Toils and Snares: The Black Leadership of Texas, 1868-1900 (Austin: Eakin, 1985).
