The Texas Seminole Scouts were descendants of runaway slaves who fled into Florida before the Civil War. The offer of freedom by the Spanish greatly encouraged South Carolina and Georgia slaves to vote for freedom with their feet. The blacks cooperated and joined the Seminoles … Read MoreTexas Seminole Scouts
Robert Lloyd Smith, politician and businessman, was born on January 8, 1861, to free black parents in South Carolina, one of whom was a schoolteacher. Smith attended the public elementary schools in Charleston and in 1875 he entered the University of South Carolina and remained … Read MoreRobert Lloyd Smith (1861-1942)
Richard Allen, politician and civic leader, was born a slave in Richmond, Virginia, on June 10, 1830. He was brought to Texas in 1837 and ultimately to Harris County, where he was owned by J.J. Cain until emancipation in 1865. While a slave he earned … Read MoreRichard Allen [Texas] (1830-1909)
Opal C. Jones was born in Texas sometime in the 1920s and moved to Los Angeles in the early 1950s where she became a social worker at the Avalon-Carver Community Center, established in 1940 to provide multiple resources to low-income residents in south central Los … Read MoreOpal C. Jones ( ? — ?)
Norris Wright Cuney, politician, the fourth of eight children born to a white planter, Philip Minor Cuney and a slave mother, Adeline Stuart, was born on May 12, 1846, near Hempstead, Texas. Cuney studied law and by July 18, 1871, was appointed president of the … Read MoreNorris Wright Cuney (1846-1898)
March 18, 1996, Decided OPINION: JERRY E. SMITH, Circuit Judge: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit With the best of intentions, in order to increase the enrollment of certain favored classes of minority students, the University of Texas School of Law (“the … Read More(1996) Hopwood v. State of Texas
Lulu Belle Madison White, civil rights activist in the 1940s and 1950s, devoted most of her adult life to the struggle against Jim Crow in Texas. She campaigned for the right to vote, for equal pay for equal work, and for desegregation of public facilities. … Read MoreLulu B.White (1900-1957)
SWEATT v. PAINTER, 339 U.S. 629 (1950) SWEATT v. PAINTER ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF TEXAS. No. 44. Argued April 4, 1950. Decided June 5, 1950. Petitioner was denied admission to the state-supported University of Texas Law School, solely because he is … Read More(1950) Sweatt v. Painter
John Ware was born a slave in South Carolina circa 1845. When the Civil War ended, he decided to exercise his freedom by moving west. Ware settled in Texas and got a job with a rancher who raised horses. In 1879 Ware rode north on … Read MoreJohn Ware (1845?-1905)
John Newington Conna was a pivotal figure in the early history and development of Washington State. Born enslaved near San Augustine, Texas in 1836, Conna was a free man by the time of the Civil War because he served in the 1st Louisiana Native Guards, … Read MoreJohn N. Conna (1836-1921)
