Juneteenth: the birth of the Texas GOP

Though June 19, 1865, "Juneteenth," marks the day Texas received word of the Emancipation Proclamation, the years to follow meant not only the freeing of slaves but their rise in representational politics. It also signaled the beginning of a new party in Texas.

From the Handbook of Texas:

In July 1867 twenty whites and 150 blacks attended a Republican convention in Houston, where they endorsed free common schools and free homesteads from public lands for blacks and whites alike. Thus began a decades-long tradition of black Republicanism in the state. 

Despite widespread violence and intimidation by the Ku Klux Klan and Democrats, many black men registered for the first election in which they could participate-the 1868 referendum on whether to hold another constitutional convention and elect delegates. 

More blacks than whites cast ballots, and, with their white allies, they overcame the opposition of the majority of white voters and voted to hold another convention. The Convention of 1868–69, dominated by Republicans, included ten African-American delegates out of ninety. ... 

All ten were active on committees and presented important resolutions. Though frustrated in attempts to secure certain constitutional safeguards for their people, they contributed to the accomplishments of the convention, which paved the way for the readmission of Texas to the Union in March 1870.