Black heritage memorial ceremony to bring Travis GOP full-circle to its roots

Greg Abbott

Gov. Greg Abbott announced this afternoon he will join local Republicans, and deliver remarks at, the unveiling of the African American Heritage Monument on Saturday on the south lawn of the Texas Capitol.

Though speeches at the unveilings of monuments on state capitol campuses are what governors are wont to do, Abbott's speech and the presence of local Republicans represents a solidarity with the rights of Black Americans that goes to the very roots of the Grand Ol' Party.

The monument is set to be unveiled at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 19. More information.

According to the Republican Party of Texas, the GOP has quite a stake in this celebration:

African Americans were one group of Texans that would consistently support the Republican Party in Texas in those early years. In fact, throughout Reconstruction, African Americans comprised about 90% of GOP membership, and 44 African Americans served in the Texas legislature as Republicans. 

It was through the hard work of a number of dedicated African American men and women that the earliest foundations of the Republican Party of Texas were laid. The first ever state Republican convention that met in Houston on July 4, 1867 was predominantly African American in composition, with about 150 African American Texans attending, and 20 Anglos.

The second State GOP Chairman, Norris Wright Cuney, an African-American from Galveston who led the Republican Party from 1883 to 1897, is said by State historians to have held “the most important political position given to a black man of the South in the nineteenth century.”

According to the Handbook of Texas History, Travis County supported Republican candidates up until the end of Civil War Reconstruction. No doubt the earliest members of the Travis County Republican Party were freed slaves and freemen who understood well the meaning of liberty.

This Saturday, while Republicans, Democrats, and a wide coalition of interests will celebrate the progress of Texans of African descent, let's not forget the role the GOP has played in laying the base for that success.

From a model of the monument in the Texas Capitol Ag Museum

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Image credits:
Wikipedia, Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Texas African American Heritage Monument website