History of slavery in Texas
Encyclopedia
The history of slavery in Texas began slowly, as the Spanish did not rely on it for labor during their years of control
. The use of slavery
expanded when British-American settlers from the Southeastern United States
crossed the Mississippi River
and brought slaves with them. Although the Spanish colonists had held some slaves, they did not succeed in creating a sustainable agricultural economy in the entirety of New Spain
, including Texas, Mexico, Central America, and other former Spanish territories in the American Southwest.
The issue of slavery became a source of contention between the Anglo-American (called that because they spoke English) settlers and Spanish governors. The governors feared the growth in the Anglo-American population in Texas, and for various reasons, by the early 19th century, they and their superiors in Mexico City disapproved of expanding slavery. In 1829 the Guerrero
decree conditionally abolished slavery throughout Mexican territories. It was a decision that increased tensions with slaveholders among the Anglo-Americans.
After the Texas Revolution
ended, European-Americans greatly increased the enslaved population in the Republic
, and later the State of Texas as they encouraged settlement and developed more acres under cultivation in cotton and other commodities. The cotton
industry flourished in East Texas
where enslaved labor became most widely used. The central part of the state was dominated by subsistence farmers. Free and runaway blacks had great difficulty finding jobs in Texas. Many worked in other parts of the state as cowboys herding cattle or migrate
d for better opportunities in the Midwest
, California
, or southward to Mexico.
, a Moor
from North Africa who had been captured and enslaved by the Spanish when he was a child. Estevanico accompanied his master Captain Andrés Dorantes de Carranza on the Narváez expedition
, which landed at present-day Tampa. Trying to get around the Gulf Coast, they built five barges, but in November 1528 these went aground off the coast of Texas. Estevanico, Dorantes, and Alonso Castillo Maldonado, the only survivors, spent several months living on a barrier island (now believed to be Galveston Island) before making their way in April 1529 to the mainland. American Indians
captured and enslaved the party, putting them to work as laborers. They survived with the help of Castillo's faith healing among the Indians. Later they were joined by Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
. Five years later, in September 1534, they escaped to the interior. Although Estevanico was still enslaved, after these events the Spaniards treated him more as an equal. Later he was given leadership of a Spanish expedition. His account, along with those of the others, led to more extensive Spanish exploration of the new territory.
officially encouraged freeing slaves, but the laws were often ignored. Beginning in the 1740s in the Southwest, when Spanish settlers captured American Indian children, they often had them baptized and "adopted" into the homes of townspeople. There they were raised to be servants. At first the practice involved primarily Apache
s; eventually Comanche
children were likewise adopted as servants.
Importation of enslaved Africans was not widespread in Spanish Texas. In 1751, after three Frenchmen were found to have settled along the Trinity River
to trade with the American Indians, the Spanish arrested and expelled them from the colony. A 1777 census of San Antonio
showed a total of 2,060 people, with 151 of them of African descent. Of these, only 15 were slaves, 4 male and 11 females. The 1783 census for all of Texas listed a total of 36 slaves. Because of the sparse European population, there was intermarriage among blacks, Indians and Europeans. In 1792 there were 34 blacks and 414 mulatto
s in Spanish Texas, some of whom were free men and women. This was 15 percent of the total 2,992 people living in Spanish Texas.
When the United States purchased Louisiana
in 1803, Spain declared that any slave who crossed the Sabine River into Texas would be automatically freed. For a time, many slaves ran away to Texas. Free blacks also emigrated to Texas. Most escaped slaves joined friendly American Indian tribes, but others settled in the East Texas
forests. Some French and Spanish slaveholders moved to Texas, however, and were allowed to retain their slaves. In 1809, the Commandant General of the Interior Provinces, Nemesio Salcedo, ordered the Texas-Louisiana border to be closed to everyone, regardless of ethnic background. His nephew, governor of Texas Manuel María de Salcedo
, interpreted the order as allowing slaveholders from the United States to enter Texas to reclaim runaway slaves.
The United States outlawed the importation of slaves in 1808, but domestic trade flourished, especially in New Orleans over the antebellum decades. Between 1816 and 1821, Louis-Michel Aury
and Jean Lafitte
smuggled slaves into the United States through Galveston Island
. To encourage citizens to report unlawful activity, most southern states allowed anyone who informed on a slave trader to receive half of what the imported slaves would earn at auction. The men sold slaves to James Bowie and others, who brought the slaves directly to a customhouse and informed on themselves. The customs officers offered the slaves for auction, and Bowie would buy them back. Due to the state laws, he would receive half of the price he had paid. He could then legally transport the slaves and resell them in New Orleans or areas further up the Mississippi River
.
, Texas was included in the new nation. That year, the American Stephen F. Austin
was granted permission to bring Anglo settlers into Texas. Most of the settlers Austin recruited came from the southern slave-owning portions of the United States. Under Austin's development scheme, each settler was allowed to purchase an additional 50 acres (20 ha) of land for each slave he brought to the territory. At the same time, however, Mexico offered full citizenship to free blacks, including land ownership and other privileges. The province continued to attract free blacks and escaped slaves from the southern United States. Favorable conditions for free blacks continued into the 1830s.
In 1823, Mexico forbade the sale or purchase of slaves, and required that the children of slaves be freed when they reached age fourteen. By 1825, however, a census of Austin's Colony showed 1,347 Anglo-Americans and 443 people of African descent, including a small number of free Negroes. In 1827, the legislature of Coahuila y Tejas
outlawed the introduction of additional slaves and granted freedom at birth to all children born to a slave.
In 1829 Mexico abolished slavery, but it granted an exception until 1830 to Texas. That year Mexico made the importation of slaves illegal. Anglo-American immigration to the province slowed at this point, with settlers angry about the changing rules. To circumvent the law, numerous Anglo-American colonists converted their slaves to indentured servants, but with life terms. Others simply called their slaves indentured servants without legally changing their status. Slaveholders trying to enter Mexico would force their slaves to sign contracts claiming that the slaves owed money and would work to pay the debt. The low wages the slave would receive made repayment impossible, and the debt would be inherited, even though no slave would receive wages until age eighteen. In 1832 the state passed legislation prohibiting worker contracts from lasting more than ten years.
Many slaves who escaped from masters in Texas or in the United States joined various East Texas Indian tribes. Although not considered equals in the tribes, they were generally treated well. Many former slaves fought with the Cherokee
against the Texan army that drove the tribe from East Texas in 1838. Slaves often fought against the Comanche
tribe, however. The Comanche indiscriminately killed slaves and their white masters during raids. The Comanche sold any captured slaves to the Cherokees and Creeks in Indian Territory
.
By the 1800s, most slaves in Texas had been brought by slaveholders from the United States. A small number of slaves were imported illegally from the West Indies or Africa. In the 1830s, the British consul estimated that approximately 500 slaves had been illegally imported into Texas. By 1836, there were approximately 5,000 slaves in Texas.
Exportation in the slave-owning areas of the state surpassed that of the non-slave-owning areas. A survey of Texas in 1834 found that the department of Bexar, which was mostly made up of Tejanos, had exported no goods. The Brazos department, including Austin's colonies and those of Green DeWitt, had exported 600,000 pesos worth of goods, including 5,000 bales of cotton. The department of Texas, which included the eastern settlements, expected to export 2,000 bales of cotton and 5,000 head of cattle.
The abolition of slavery created tensions between the Mexican government and slave-holding settlers from the United States. These tensions came to a head in the Anahuac Disturbances
. In August 1831, Juan Davis Bradburn
the military commander of the custom station on Upper Galveston Bay
gave asylum to two men who had escaped from slavery in Louisiana
. The slaveowner hired William Barret Travis, a local lawyer, in an attempt to retrieve the men. When Bradburn arrested Travis on suspicion of plotting an insurrection, settlers rebelled. The disturbances were resolved through a combination of arms and political maneuvering. One result was the Turtle Bayou Resolutions
which were an explanation of the grievances that had led to the disturbances. One of the resolutions challenged Bradburn for "advising and procuring servants to quit the service of their masters, and offering them protection; causing them to labor for his benefits, and refusing to compensate them for the same."
began in 1835, some slaves sided with Mexico, which provided for freedom. In the fall of 1835, a group of almost 100 slaves staged an uprising along the Brazos River
after they heard rumors of approaching Mexican troops. Whites in the area defeated and severely punished them. Several slaves ran away to serve with Mexican forces. Texan forces executed one runaway slave taken prisoner and resold another into slavery. Other slaves joined the Texan forces, with some killed while fighting Mexican soldiers. Three slaves were known to be at the Battle of the Alamo
; a boy named John was killed, while William B. Travis's
slave Joe and James Bowie's slave Sam survived to be freed by the Mexican Army.
After the Republic of Texas
was created in 1836, Anglo-American views on slavery and race began to predominate and free blacks lost their rights as citizens. The 1836 Constitution of the Republic of Texas
required free blacks to petition the Texas Congress for permission to continue living in the country. The following year all those who had been living in Texas at the time of independence were allowed to remain. On the other hand, the legislature created political segregation; it classified free residents with at least 1/8 African heritage (the equivalent to one great-grandparent) as a separate category, and abrogated their citizens' rights, prohibiting them from voting, owning property, testifying against whites in court, or intermarrying with whites. As planters increased cotton production, they rapidly increased the purchase and transport of slaves. By 1840 there were 11,323 slaves in Texas.
In 1845 the United States annexed Texas as a state. Its government passed legislation further restricting the rights of free blacks. For example, it subjected them to punishments, such as working on road gangs if convicted of crimes, similar to those of slaves rather than free men.
By 1850, the slave population in Texas had increased to 58,161; in 1860 there were 182,566 slaves, 30 percent of the total population. In 1860 almost 25% of all white families in Texas owned at least one slave. Texas ranked 10th in total slave population and 9th in percentage of slave population (30% of all residents).
Forty percent of Texas slaves lived on plantations along the Gulf Coast and in the East Texas river valleys, where they cultivated cotton, corn, and some sugar. Fifty percent of the slaves worked either alone or in groups of fewer than 20 on small farms ranging from the Nueces River
to the Red River
, and from the Louisiana border to the edge of the western settlements of San Antonio, Austin
, Waco
, and Fort Worth. Some slaves lived among the cattlemen along the southern Gulf Coast and helped herd sheep and cattle. Rarely, a slave also broke horses, but generally only white men were used for that dangerous task. If they died, the boss did not suffer a monetary loss. Slaves were not held between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande
. A large supply of cheap Mexican labor in the area made the purchase and care of a slave too expensive.
Although most slaves lived in rural areas, over 1000 resided in both Galveston and Houston
by 1860, with several hundred in other large towns. Unlike in most southern cities, the number of urban slaves in Texas grew throughout the 1850s. Most worked as house servants or on farms on the edges of towns, but others served as cooks and waiters in hotels, as teamster
s or boatmen, or as coachmen and skilled artisans, such as blacksmith
s, carpenters, and barbers.
Plantation slaves generally lived in one or two-room log cabins. Most field hands received two sets of clothing twice each year, with a hat and coat for winter. Meals often consisted of bread, molasses, sweet potatoes, hominy, and beef, chicken, and pork. Slaves often lived similarly to the whites in Texas, especially those new to the territory and just getting started. The whites, however, could hope to improve their lives with their own hard work, while the slaves had no such guarantee.
Many churches in Texas accepted slaves as members. Both the Baptist
and Methodist churches appointed missionaries to the slaves and allowed active participation by them. In 1860, the Methodists claimed 7,541 slaves among their members in Texas. Some slaves became ministers, but their masters often tried to instruct them in what they were supposed to preach. As in other southern states, however, the slaves had a way of making Christianity their own and they made their religious faith strong.
Many local communities adopted laws forbidding slaves from having liquor or weapons, from selling agricultural products, hiring their own time, or being hired by free blacks. In rural areas, counties often set up patrols to enforce restrictions on slaves' traveling without passes from planter owners. Urban slaves often had greater freedoms and opportunity. Unlike most southern states, Texas did not explicitly ban education of slaves, but most slave owners did not choose to allow the practice. In 1865, 95% of the slaves were illiterate.
Many slaves ran away. Some hid in the bayous for a time, while others lived among the Indians, and a few managed to board ships bound for northern or foreign ports. Most runaway slaves attempted to go to Mexico. By 1850, an estimated 3,000 slaves had successfully escaped to Mexico, and an additional 1,000 crossed into Mexico between 1851 and 1855. Ninety percent of the runaways were men, most between ages 20 and 40, because they were best equipped to deal with the long, difficult journey. All ages were represented, however, from 5 months to 60 years. As early as 1836, Texas slaveholders sent representatives to Matamoros
to try to reclaim their runaway slaves, but Mexico refused.
A group of slaves killed the sheriff of Gonzales
when he attempted to stop their going to Matamoros. Over 30 of the fugitives made it safely to freedom in Mexico. From 1849 until 1860, Texas tried to convince the United States government to negotiate a treaty with Mexico to permit extradition of runaway slaves, but it was never successful. Some slave hunters illegally traveled to Mexico and captured runaways. After José María Jesús Carvajal promised to return all escaped slaves, more than 400 Texans joined his revolt of 1851. He tried to create a Republic of Sierra Madre in Northern Mexico but was defeated by the Mexican Army.
White Texans were fearful about slave revolts, and as in other southern states, rumors of uprisings took hold rapidly, often in times of economic and social tension. In 1854, citizens in Austin and other towns drove many poor Mexicans from the area in fear that they might assist in slave revolts. Two years later, Colorado County hanged several slaves and drove one white man and several Mexicans from the area after uncovering a plot to equip 200 slaves with pistols and knives so they could escape into Mexico.
In 1860, mass hysteria ensued after a series of fires erupted throughout the state. Planters had hundreds of slaves arrested and questioned forcefully. Several confessed to a plot by white abolitionists to avenge John Brown's
execution by burning food supplies and poisoning slaveowners. Up to 80 slaves and 37 whites may have been executed as a result of the supposed plot. Later newspaper accounts revealed that most of what was confessed under torture appeared to be false. The fires had coincided with a summer drought, and new matches were susceptible to spontaneous combustion. The supposed "poison" found in slave quarters was actually baby powder.
during the American Civil War
. It replaced pro-Union governor
, Sam Houston
, in the process. During the war, slavery in Texas was little affected, and prices for slaves remained high until the last few months of the war. The number of slaves in the state increased dramatically as the Union Army
occupied parts of Arkansas
and Louisiana. Slaveholders in those areas often moved their slaves to Texas to avoid having them emancipated. By 1865 there were an estimated 250,000 slaves in Texas. Many planters, however, lost part of their workforces temporarily to the Confederate Army, which impressed one-quarter of the slaves on each plantation to construct defensive earthworks for the Texas coast and to drive military supply wagons. Anyone convicted of providing arms to slaves during the war was sentenced to between two and five years of hard labor.
Unlike in other Southern states, only a small number of Texas slaves, estimated at 47, joined the Union Army. Few battles took place in Texas, which acted as a supply state to the Confederacy. As Texas was much more distant from the Union Army lines for much of the war, slaves were unable to reach them. The last battle of the war was fought at Palmito Ranch
in 1865.
and over 2,000 federal troops arrived at Galveston Island
to take possession of the state and enforce the two-year-old Emancipation Proclamation
. There, he proclaimed his "General Order No. 3" on the balcony of Ashton Villa
:
On some plantations, many slaves left immediately after hearing of the emancipation, even if their former owners offered to pay them wages. Throughout the summer, many East Texas newspapers continued to recommend that slaveholders oppose ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment
, which abolished slavery, in the hopes that emancipation could be gradually implemented. Some slaveowners did not free their slaves until late in 1865.
Slavery was officially abolished by the Thirteenth Amendment which took effect on December 18, 1865. Slavery had been theoretically abolished by President Abraham Lincoln
's Emancipation Proclamation
which proclaimed, in 1863, that only slaves located in territories that were in rebellion from the United States were free. Since the U.S. government was not in effective control of many of these territories until later in the war, many of these slaves proclaimed to be free by the Emancipation Proclamation were still held in servitude until those areas came back under Union control.
.
The longterm effects of slavery can be seen to this day in the state. The eastern quarter of the state, where cotton production depended on thousands of slaves, is sometimes considered the westernmost extension of the Deep South
. It contains a significant number of Texas' African-American population. On the other hand, western parts of Texas were still a frontier during the American Civil War
. While settled chiefly by Anglo-Southerners after the war, with the history of ranching, some of these parts have been more associated with the Southwest
than the South
.
After white Democrats regained power in Texas and other southern states in the 1870s, they imposed a system of legalized segregation and white supremacy. In 1876 white Democrats in Texas passed a new constitution requiring segregated schools and imposing a poll tax, which decreased the number of poor voters both black and white. By the late 19th century, they passed other Jim Crow rules. The system of school support was inadequate, and schools for minorities were seriously underfunded.
At the turn of the century, Texas followed other southern states in passage of laws that made voter registration and elections more complicated. In practical terms, the provisions disfranchised most blacks, and many poor whites and Latinos, a condition that persisted into the 1960s. Such provisions included a grandfather clause
, literacy tests and residency requirements difficult for sharecroppers and laborers to meet. In 1900 African Americans comprised 20% of the state's population of 3,084,710. The drop in proportion of population reflected greatly increased European immigration to the state in the 19th century, as well as population growth.
Like Georgia
, the Texas Democratic Party adopted a whites-only primary. Since they politically dominated the state for decades after 1900, the only contest for office was at the primary level. The white primary was another way to exclude African Americans from making electoral decisions, and it was not overturned by the Supreme Court until 1944 in Smith v. Allwright
. States that had used it adopted other means to keep most African Americans from voting.
African Americans immediately started raising legal challenges to disfranchisement, but early Supreme Court
cases, such as Giles v. Harris
(1903), upheld the states. Through organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP), African Americans continued to work to regain their ability to exercise their civil and voting rights as citizens.
Spanish Texas
Spanish Texas was one of the interior provinces of New Spain from 1690 until 1821. Although Spain claimed ownership of the territory, which comprised part of modern-day Texas, including the land north of the Medina and Nueces Rivers, the Spanish did not attempt to colonize the area until after...
. The use of slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
expanded when British-American settlers from the Southeastern United States
Southeastern United States
The Southeastern United States, colloquially referred to as the Southeast, is the eastern portion of the Southern United States. It is one of the most populous regions in the United States of America....
crossed the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
and brought slaves with them. Although the Spanish colonists had held some slaves, they did not succeed in creating a sustainable agricultural economy in the entirety of New Spain
New Spain
New Spain, formally called the Viceroyalty of New Spain , was a viceroyalty of the Spanish colonial empire, comprising primarily territories in what was known then as 'América Septentrional' or North America. Its capital was Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire...
, including Texas, Mexico, Central America, and other former Spanish territories in the American Southwest.
The issue of slavery became a source of contention between the Anglo-American (called that because they spoke English) settlers and Spanish governors. The governors feared the growth in the Anglo-American population in Texas, and for various reasons, by the early 19th century, they and their superiors in Mexico City disapproved of expanding slavery. In 1829 the Guerrero
Vicente Guerrero
Vicente Ramón Guerrero Saldaña was one of the leading revolutionary generals of the Mexican War of Independence, who fought against Spain for independence in the early 19th century, and served briefly as President of Mexico...
decree conditionally abolished slavery throughout Mexican territories. It was a decision that increased tensions with slaveholders among the Anglo-Americans.
After the Texas Revolution
Texas Revolution
The Texas Revolution or Texas War of Independence was an armed conflict between Mexico and settlers in the Texas portion of the Mexican state Coahuila y Tejas. The war lasted from October 2, 1835 to April 21, 1836...
ended, European-Americans greatly increased the enslaved population in the Republic
Republic of Texas
The Republic of Texas was an independent nation in North America, bordering the United States and Mexico, that existed from 1836 to 1846.Formed as a break-away republic from Mexico by the Texas Revolution, the state claimed borders that encompassed an area that included all of the present U.S...
, and later the State of Texas as they encouraged settlement and developed more acres under cultivation in cotton and other commodities. The cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
industry flourished in East Texas
East Texas
East Texas is a distinct geographic and ecological area in the U.S. state of Texas.According to the Handbook of Texas, the East Texas area "may be separated from the rest of Texas roughly by a line extending from the Red River in north central Lamar County southwestward to east central Limestone...
where enslaved labor became most widely used. The central part of the state was dominated by subsistence farmers. Free and runaway blacks had great difficulty finding jobs in Texas. Many worked in other parts of the state as cowboys herding cattle or migrate
Animal migration
Animal migration is the relatively long-distance movement of individuals, usually on a seasonal basis. It is a ubiquitous phenomenon, found in all major animal groups, including birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, amphibians, insects, and crustaceans. The trigger for the migration may be local...
d for better opportunities in the Midwest
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, or southward to Mexico.
Early slavery
The first non-native slave in Texas was EstevanicoEstevanico
Estevanico , "Black Stephen", "Esteban", "Esteban the Moor", "Estevan", "Estebanico", "Stephen the Black", "Stephen the Moor", "Stephen Dorantes" after his owner Andres Dorantes, and "Little Stephen") was the first known person born in Africa to have arrived in the present-day continental United...
, a Moor
Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
from North Africa who had been captured and enslaved by the Spanish when he was a child. Estevanico accompanied his master Captain Andrés Dorantes de Carranza on the Narváez expedition
Narváez expedition
The Narváez expedition was a Spanish attempt during the years 1527–1528 to colonize Spanish Florida. It was led by Pánfilo de Narváez, who was to rule as adelantado....
, which landed at present-day Tampa. Trying to get around the Gulf Coast, they built five barges, but in November 1528 these went aground off the coast of Texas. Estevanico, Dorantes, and Alonso Castillo Maldonado, the only survivors, spent several months living on a barrier island (now believed to be Galveston Island) before making their way in April 1529 to the mainland. American Indians
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
captured and enslaved the party, putting them to work as laborers. They survived with the help of Castillo's faith healing among the Indians. Later they were joined by Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca was a Spanish explorer of the New World, one of four survivors of the Narváez expedition...
. Five years later, in September 1534, they escaped to the interior. Although Estevanico was still enslaved, after these events the Spaniards treated him more as an equal. Later he was given leadership of a Spanish expedition. His account, along with those of the others, led to more extensive Spanish exploration of the new territory.
Slavery in colonial times
Both the civil and religious authorities in Spanish TexasSpanish Texas
Spanish Texas was one of the interior provinces of New Spain from 1690 until 1821. Although Spain claimed ownership of the territory, which comprised part of modern-day Texas, including the land north of the Medina and Nueces Rivers, the Spanish did not attempt to colonize the area until after...
officially encouraged freeing slaves, but the laws were often ignored. Beginning in the 1740s in the Southwest, when Spanish settlers captured American Indian children, they often had them baptized and "adopted" into the homes of townspeople. There they were raised to be servants. At first the practice involved primarily Apache
Apache
Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
s; eventually Comanche
Comanche
The Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose historic range consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. Historically, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers, with a typical Plains Indian...
children were likewise adopted as servants.
Importation of enslaved Africans was not widespread in Spanish Texas. In 1751, after three Frenchmen were found to have settled along the Trinity River
Trinity River (Texas)
The Trinity River is a long river that flows entirely within the U.S. state of Texas. It rises in extreme north Texas, a few miles south of the Red River. The headwaters are separated by the high bluffs on the south side of the Red River....
to trade with the American Indians, the Spanish arrested and expelled them from the colony. A 1777 census of San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
showed a total of 2,060 people, with 151 of them of African descent. Of these, only 15 were slaves, 4 male and 11 females. The 1783 census for all of Texas listed a total of 36 slaves. Because of the sparse European population, there was intermarriage among blacks, Indians and Europeans. In 1792 there were 34 blacks and 414 mulatto
Mulatto
Mulatto denotes a person with one white parent and one black parent, or more broadly, a person of mixed black and white ancestry. Contemporary usage of the term varies greatly, and the broader sense of the term makes its application rather subjective, as not all people of mixed white and black...
s in Spanish Texas, some of whom were free men and women. This was 15 percent of the total 2,992 people living in Spanish Texas.
When the United States purchased Louisiana
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of America of of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803. The U.S...
in 1803, Spain declared that any slave who crossed the Sabine River into Texas would be automatically freed. For a time, many slaves ran away to Texas. Free blacks also emigrated to Texas. Most escaped slaves joined friendly American Indian tribes, but others settled in the East Texas
East Texas
East Texas is a distinct geographic and ecological area in the U.S. state of Texas.According to the Handbook of Texas, the East Texas area "may be separated from the rest of Texas roughly by a line extending from the Red River in north central Lamar County southwestward to east central Limestone...
forests. Some French and Spanish slaveholders moved to Texas, however, and were allowed to retain their slaves. In 1809, the Commandant General of the Interior Provinces, Nemesio Salcedo, ordered the Texas-Louisiana border to be closed to everyone, regardless of ethnic background. His nephew, governor of Texas Manuel María de Salcedo
Manuel María de Salcedo
Manuel María de Salcedo y Quiroga , Manuel María de Salcedo y Quiroga , Manuel María de Salcedo y Quiroga , (Malaga, Spain, (1776 - executed, 3 April 1813), was a governor of Spanish Texas from 1808 until his execution in 1813. Salcedo gained leadership experience helping his father Juan Manuel de...
, interpreted the order as allowing slaveholders from the United States to enter Texas to reclaim runaway slaves.
The United States outlawed the importation of slaves in 1808, but domestic trade flourished, especially in New Orleans over the antebellum decades. Between 1816 and 1821, Louis-Michel Aury
Louis-Michel Aury
Louis-Michel Aury was a French Corsair operating in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean during the early 19th century.Aury was born in Paris, France, in about 1788. He served in the French Navy, but from 1802 served in privateer ships...
and Jean Lafitte
Jean Lafitte
Jean Lafitte was a pirate and privateer in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. He and his elder brother, Pierre, spelled their last name Laffite, but English-language documents of the time used "Lafitte", and this is the commonly seen spelling in the United States, including for places...
smuggled slaves into the United States through Galveston Island
Galveston Island
Galveston Island is a barrier island on the Texas Gulf coast in the United States, about 50 miles southeast of Houston. The entire island, with the exception of Jamaica Beach, is within the city limits of the City of Galveston....
. To encourage citizens to report unlawful activity, most southern states allowed anyone who informed on a slave trader to receive half of what the imported slaves would earn at auction. The men sold slaves to James Bowie and others, who brought the slaves directly to a customhouse and informed on themselves. The customs officers offered the slaves for auction, and Bowie would buy them back. Due to the state laws, he would receive half of the price he had paid. He could then legally transport the slaves and resell them in New Orleans or areas further up the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
.
Mexican Texas
In 1821 at the conclusion of the Mexican War of IndependenceMexican War of Independence
The Mexican War of Independence was an armed conflict between the people of Mexico and the Spanish colonial authorities which started on 16 September 1810. The movement, which became known as the Mexican War of Independence, was led by Mexican-born Spaniards, Mestizos and Amerindians who sought...
, Texas was included in the new nation. That year, the American Stephen F. Austin
Stephen F. Austin
Stephen Fuller Austin was born in Virginia and raised in southeastern Missouri. He was known as the Father of Texas, led the second, but first legal and ultimately successful colonization of the region by bringing 300 families from the United States. The capital of Texas, Austin in Travis County,...
was granted permission to bring Anglo settlers into Texas. Most of the settlers Austin recruited came from the southern slave-owning portions of the United States. Under Austin's development scheme, each settler was allowed to purchase an additional 50 acres (20 ha) of land for each slave he brought to the territory. At the same time, however, Mexico offered full citizenship to free blacks, including land ownership and other privileges. The province continued to attract free blacks and escaped slaves from the southern United States. Favorable conditions for free blacks continued into the 1830s.
In 1823, Mexico forbade the sale or purchase of slaves, and required that the children of slaves be freed when they reached age fourteen. By 1825, however, a census of Austin's Colony showed 1,347 Anglo-Americans and 443 people of African descent, including a small number of free Negroes. In 1827, the legislature of Coahuila y Tejas
Coahuila y Tejas
Coahuila y Tejas was one of the constituent states of the newly established United Mexican States under its 1824 Constitution.It had two capitals: first Saltillo, and then Monclova...
outlawed the introduction of additional slaves and granted freedom at birth to all children born to a slave.
In 1829 Mexico abolished slavery, but it granted an exception until 1830 to Texas. That year Mexico made the importation of slaves illegal. Anglo-American immigration to the province slowed at this point, with settlers angry about the changing rules. To circumvent the law, numerous Anglo-American colonists converted their slaves to indentured servants, but with life terms. Others simply called their slaves indentured servants without legally changing their status. Slaveholders trying to enter Mexico would force their slaves to sign contracts claiming that the slaves owed money and would work to pay the debt. The low wages the slave would receive made repayment impossible, and the debt would be inherited, even though no slave would receive wages until age eighteen. In 1832 the state passed legislation prohibiting worker contracts from lasting more than ten years.
Many slaves who escaped from masters in Texas or in the United States joined various East Texas Indian tribes. Although not considered equals in the tribes, they were generally treated well. Many former slaves fought with the Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
against the Texan army that drove the tribe from East Texas in 1838. Slaves often fought against the Comanche
Comanche
The Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose historic range consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. Historically, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers, with a typical Plains Indian...
tribe, however. The Comanche indiscriminately killed slaves and their white masters during raids. The Comanche sold any captured slaves to the Cherokees and Creeks in Indian Territory
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the settlement of American Indians...
.
By the 1800s, most slaves in Texas had been brought by slaveholders from the United States. A small number of slaves were imported illegally from the West Indies or Africa. In the 1830s, the British consul estimated that approximately 500 slaves had been illegally imported into Texas. By 1836, there were approximately 5,000 slaves in Texas.
Exportation in the slave-owning areas of the state surpassed that of the non-slave-owning areas. A survey of Texas in 1834 found that the department of Bexar, which was mostly made up of Tejanos, had exported no goods. The Brazos department, including Austin's colonies and those of Green DeWitt, had exported 600,000 pesos worth of goods, including 5,000 bales of cotton. The department of Texas, which included the eastern settlements, expected to export 2,000 bales of cotton and 5,000 head of cattle.
The abolition of slavery created tensions between the Mexican government and slave-holding settlers from the United States. These tensions came to a head in the Anahuac Disturbances
Anahuac Disturbances
The Anahuac Disturbances were uprisings of settlers in and around Anahuac, Texas in 1832 and 1835 which helped to precipitate the Texas Revolution. This eventually led to the territory's secession from Mexico and the founding of the Republic of Texas...
. In August 1831, Juan Davis Bradburn
Juan Davis Bradburn
Juan Davis Bradburn , born John Davis Bradburn, was a brigadier general in the Mexican Army. His actions as commandant of the garrison at Anahuac in Mexican Texas in 1831 and 1832 led to the events known as the Anahuac Disturbances....
the military commander of the custom station on Upper Galveston Bay
Galveston Bay
Galveston Bay is a large estuary located along the upper coast of Texas in the United States. It is connected to the Gulf of Mexico and is surrounded by sub-tropic marshes and prairies on the mainland. The water in the Bay is a complex mixture of sea water and fresh water which supports a wide...
gave asylum to two men who had escaped from slavery in Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. The slaveowner hired William Barret Travis, a local lawyer, in an attempt to retrieve the men. When Bradburn arrested Travis on suspicion of plotting an insurrection, settlers rebelled. The disturbances were resolved through a combination of arms and political maneuvering. One result was the Turtle Bayou Resolutions
Turtle Bayou Resolutions
The Turtle Bayou Resolutions were signed by settlers during the Anahuac Disturbances, which played a role in the secession of Texas from Mexico and the creation of the Republic of Texas....
which were an explanation of the grievances that had led to the disturbances. One of the resolutions challenged Bradburn for "advising and procuring servants to quit the service of their masters, and offering them protection; causing them to labor for his benefits, and refusing to compensate them for the same."
Republic
As the Texas RevolutionTexas Revolution
The Texas Revolution or Texas War of Independence was an armed conflict between Mexico and settlers in the Texas portion of the Mexican state Coahuila y Tejas. The war lasted from October 2, 1835 to April 21, 1836...
began in 1835, some slaves sided with Mexico, which provided for freedom. In the fall of 1835, a group of almost 100 slaves staged an uprising along the Brazos River
Brazos River
The Brazos River, called the Rio de los Brazos de Dios by early Spanish explorers , is the longest river in Texas and the 11th longest river in the United States at from its source at the head of Blackwater Draw, Curry County, New Mexico to its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico with a drainage...
after they heard rumors of approaching Mexican troops. Whites in the area defeated and severely punished them. Several slaves ran away to serve with Mexican forces. Texan forces executed one runaway slave taken prisoner and resold another into slavery. Other slaves joined the Texan forces, with some killed while fighting Mexican soldiers. Three slaves were known to be at the Battle of the Alamo
Battle of the Alamo
The Battle of the Alamo was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar . All but two of the Texian defenders were killed...
; a boy named John was killed, while William B. Travis's
William B. Travis
William Barret Travis was a 19th-century American lawyer and soldier. At the age of 26, he was a lieutenant colonel in the Texas Army...
slave Joe and James Bowie's slave Sam survived to be freed by the Mexican Army.
After the Republic of Texas
Republic of Texas
The Republic of Texas was an independent nation in North America, bordering the United States and Mexico, that existed from 1836 to 1846.Formed as a break-away republic from Mexico by the Texas Revolution, the state claimed borders that encompassed an area that included all of the present U.S...
was created in 1836, Anglo-American views on slavery and race began to predominate and free blacks lost their rights as citizens. The 1836 Constitution of the Republic of Texas
Constitution of the Republic of Texas
The Constitution of the Republic of Texas was written in 1836 between the fall of the Alamo Mission in San Antonio and Sam Houston's stunning victory at San Jacinto. The constitution was written quickly and while on the run from Santa Anna....
required free blacks to petition the Texas Congress for permission to continue living in the country. The following year all those who had been living in Texas at the time of independence were allowed to remain. On the other hand, the legislature created political segregation; it classified free residents with at least 1/8 African heritage (the equivalent to one great-grandparent) as a separate category, and abrogated their citizens' rights, prohibiting them from voting, owning property, testifying against whites in court, or intermarrying with whites. As planters increased cotton production, they rapidly increased the purchase and transport of slaves. By 1840 there were 11,323 slaves in Texas.
Statehood
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1825 | 443 |
| 1836 | 5,000 |
| 1840 | 11,323 |
| 1850 | 58,161 |
| 1860 | 182,566 |
| 1865 | 250,000 |
In 1845 the United States annexed Texas as a state. Its government passed legislation further restricting the rights of free blacks. For example, it subjected them to punishments, such as working on road gangs if convicted of crimes, similar to those of slaves rather than free men.
By 1850, the slave population in Texas had increased to 58,161; in 1860 there were 182,566 slaves, 30 percent of the total population. In 1860 almost 25% of all white families in Texas owned at least one slave. Texas ranked 10th in total slave population and 9th in percentage of slave population (30% of all residents).
Forty percent of Texas slaves lived on plantations along the Gulf Coast and in the East Texas river valleys, where they cultivated cotton, corn, and some sugar. Fifty percent of the slaves worked either alone or in groups of fewer than 20 on small farms ranging from the Nueces River
Nueces River
The Nueces River is a river in the U.S. state of Texas, approximately long. It drains a region in central and southern Texas southeastward into the Gulf of Mexico. It is the southernmost major river in Texas northeast of the Rio Grande...
to the Red River
Red River (Mississippi watershed)
The Red River, or sometimes the Red River of the South, is a major tributary of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers in the southern United States of America. The river gains its name from the red-bed country of its watershed. It is one of several rivers with that name...
, and from the Louisiana border to the edge of the western settlements of San Antonio, Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, Waco
Waco, Texas
Waco is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas. Situated along the Brazos River and on the I-35 corridor, halfway between Dallas and Austin, it is the economic, cultural, and academic center of the 'Heart of Texas' region....
, and Fort Worth. Some slaves lived among the cattlemen along the southern Gulf Coast and helped herd sheep and cattle. Rarely, a slave also broke horses, but generally only white men were used for that dangerous task. If they died, the boss did not suffer a monetary loss. Slaves were not held between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande is a river that flows from southwestern Colorado in the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way it forms part of the Mexico – United States border. Its length varies as its course changes...
. A large supply of cheap Mexican labor in the area made the purchase and care of a slave too expensive.
Although most slaves lived in rural areas, over 1000 resided in both Galveston and Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
by 1860, with several hundred in other large towns. Unlike in most southern cities, the number of urban slaves in Texas grew throughout the 1850s. Most worked as house servants or on farms on the edges of towns, but others served as cooks and waiters in hotels, as teamster
Teamster
A teamster, in modern American English, is a truck driver. The trade union named after them is the International Brotherhood of Teamsters , one of the largest unions in the United States....
s or boatmen, or as coachmen and skilled artisans, such as blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
s, carpenters, and barbers.
Plantation slaves generally lived in one or two-room log cabins. Most field hands received two sets of clothing twice each year, with a hat and coat for winter. Meals often consisted of bread, molasses, sweet potatoes, hominy, and beef, chicken, and pork. Slaves often lived similarly to the whites in Texas, especially those new to the territory and just getting started. The whites, however, could hope to improve their lives with their own hard work, while the slaves had no such guarantee.
Many churches in Texas accepted slaves as members. Both the Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
and Methodist churches appointed missionaries to the slaves and allowed active participation by them. In 1860, the Methodists claimed 7,541 slaves among their members in Texas. Some slaves became ministers, but their masters often tried to instruct them in what they were supposed to preach. As in other southern states, however, the slaves had a way of making Christianity their own and they made their religious faith strong.
Many local communities adopted laws forbidding slaves from having liquor or weapons, from selling agricultural products, hiring their own time, or being hired by free blacks. In rural areas, counties often set up patrols to enforce restrictions on slaves' traveling without passes from planter owners. Urban slaves often had greater freedoms and opportunity. Unlike most southern states, Texas did not explicitly ban education of slaves, but most slave owners did not choose to allow the practice. In 1865, 95% of the slaves were illiterate.
Many slaves ran away. Some hid in the bayous for a time, while others lived among the Indians, and a few managed to board ships bound for northern or foreign ports. Most runaway slaves attempted to go to Mexico. By 1850, an estimated 3,000 slaves had successfully escaped to Mexico, and an additional 1,000 crossed into Mexico between 1851 and 1855. Ninety percent of the runaways were men, most between ages 20 and 40, because they were best equipped to deal with the long, difficult journey. All ages were represented, however, from 5 months to 60 years. As early as 1836, Texas slaveholders sent representatives to Matamoros
Matamoros
The name Matamoros, meaning Moor-killer or Moor-slayer in Spanish , may refer to:-People:*Mariano Matamoros, a liberal priest and insurgent active during the Mexican War of Independence*Santiago Matamoros The name Matamoros, meaning Moor-killer or Moor-slayer in Spanish (see Saint James the...
to try to reclaim their runaway slaves, but Mexico refused.
A group of slaves killed the sheriff of Gonzales
Gonzales, Texas
Gonzales is a city in Gonzales County, Texas, United States. The population was 7,202 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Gonzales County.-Geography:Gonzales is located at...
when he attempted to stop their going to Matamoros. Over 30 of the fugitives made it safely to freedom in Mexico. From 1849 until 1860, Texas tried to convince the United States government to negotiate a treaty with Mexico to permit extradition of runaway slaves, but it was never successful. Some slave hunters illegally traveled to Mexico and captured runaways. After José María Jesús Carvajal promised to return all escaped slaves, more than 400 Texans joined his revolt of 1851. He tried to create a Republic of Sierra Madre in Northern Mexico but was defeated by the Mexican Army.
White Texans were fearful about slave revolts, and as in other southern states, rumors of uprisings took hold rapidly, often in times of economic and social tension. In 1854, citizens in Austin and other towns drove many poor Mexicans from the area in fear that they might assist in slave revolts. Two years later, Colorado County hanged several slaves and drove one white man and several Mexicans from the area after uncovering a plot to equip 200 slaves with pistols and knives so they could escape into Mexico.
In 1860, mass hysteria ensued after a series of fires erupted throughout the state. Planters had hundreds of slaves arrested and questioned forcefully. Several confessed to a plot by white abolitionists to avenge John Brown's
John Brown (abolitionist)
John Brown was an American revolutionary abolitionist, who in the 1850s advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish slavery in the United States. He led the Pottawatomie Massacre during which five men were killed, in 1856 in Bleeding Kansas, and made his name in the...
execution by burning food supplies and poisoning slaveowners. Up to 80 slaves and 37 whites may have been executed as a result of the supposed plot. Later newspaper accounts revealed that most of what was confessed under torture appeared to be false. The fires had coincided with a summer drought, and new matches were susceptible to spontaneous combustion. The supposed "poison" found in slave quarters was actually baby powder.
Confederacy
Texas seceded from the United States in 1861, and joined the Confederate States of AmericaConfederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. It replaced pro-Union governor
Governor of Texas
The governor of Texas is the head of the executive branch of Texas's government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Texas Legislature, and to convene the legislature...
, Sam Houston
Sam Houston
Samuel Houston, known as Sam Houston , was a 19th-century American statesman, politician, and soldier. He was born in Timber Ridge in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, of Scots-Irish descent. Houston became a key figure in the history of Texas and was elected as the first and third President of...
, in the process. During the war, slavery in Texas was little affected, and prices for slaves remained high until the last few months of the war. The number of slaves in the state increased dramatically as the Union Army
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
occupied parts of Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
and Louisiana. Slaveholders in those areas often moved their slaves to Texas to avoid having them emancipated. By 1865 there were an estimated 250,000 slaves in Texas. Many planters, however, lost part of their workforces temporarily to the Confederate Army, which impressed one-quarter of the slaves on each plantation to construct defensive earthworks for the Texas coast and to drive military supply wagons. Anyone convicted of providing arms to slaves during the war was sentenced to between two and five years of hard labor.
Unlike in other Southern states, only a small number of Texas slaves, estimated at 47, joined the Union Army. Few battles took place in Texas, which acted as a supply state to the Confederacy. As Texas was much more distant from the Union Army lines for much of the war, slaves were unable to reach them. The last battle of the war was fought at Palmito Ranch
Battle of Palmito Ranch
The Battle of Palmito Ranch, also known as the Battle of Palmito Hill and the Battle of Palmetto Ranch, was fought on May 12–13, 1865, during the American Civil War. It was the last major clash of arms in the war...
in 1865.
Emancipation
On June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon GrangerGordon Granger
Gordon Granger was a career U.S. army officer and a Union general during the American Civil War. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Chickamauga.-Early life & Mexico:...
and over 2,000 federal troops arrived at Galveston Island
Galveston Island
Galveston Island is a barrier island on the Texas Gulf coast in the United States, about 50 miles southeast of Houston. The entire island, with the exception of Jamaica Beach, is within the city limits of the City of Galveston....
to take possession of the state and enforce the two-year-old Emancipation Proclamation
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation is an executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War using his war powers. It proclaimed the freedom of 3.1 million of the nation's 4 million slaves, and immediately freed 50,000 of them, with nearly...
. There, he proclaimed his "General Order No. 3" on the balcony of Ashton Villa
Ashton Villa
Ashton Villa is a fully restored, historic home located on the corner of 23rd and Broadway in Galveston, Texas, United States. Constructed in 1859, it was one of the first brick structures in Texas.-History:...
:
The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.
On some plantations, many slaves left immediately after hearing of the emancipation, even if their former owners offered to pay them wages. Throughout the summer, many East Texas newspapers continued to recommend that slaveholders oppose ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment
Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. It was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, passed by the House on January 31, 1865, and adopted on December 6, 1865. On...
, which abolished slavery, in the hopes that emancipation could be gradually implemented. Some slaveowners did not free their slaves until late in 1865.
Slavery was officially abolished by the Thirteenth Amendment which took effect on December 18, 1865. Slavery had been theoretically abolished by President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
's Emancipation Proclamation
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation is an executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War using his war powers. It proclaimed the freedom of 3.1 million of the nation's 4 million slaves, and immediately freed 50,000 of them, with nearly...
which proclaimed, in 1863, that only slaves located in territories that were in rebellion from the United States were free. Since the U.S. government was not in effective control of many of these territories until later in the war, many of these slaves proclaimed to be free by the Emancipation Proclamation were still held in servitude until those areas came back under Union control.
Legacy
June 19, the day of the Emancipation announcement, has been celebrated annually in Texas and other states as JuneteenthJuneteenth
Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, is a holiday in the United States honoring African American heritage by commemorating the announcement of the abolition of slavery in the U.S. State of Texas in 1865...
.
The longterm effects of slavery can be seen to this day in the state. The eastern quarter of the state, where cotton production depended on thousands of slaves, is sometimes considered the westernmost extension of the Deep South
Deep South
The Deep South is a descriptive category of the cultural and geographic subregions in the American South. Historically, it is differentiated from the "Upper South" as being the states which were most dependent on plantation type agriculture during the pre-Civil War period...
. It contains a significant number of Texas' African-American population. On the other hand, western parts of Texas were still a frontier during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. While settled chiefly by Anglo-Southerners after the war, with the history of ranching, some of these parts have been more associated with the Southwest
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...
than the South
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
.
After white Democrats regained power in Texas and other southern states in the 1870s, they imposed a system of legalized segregation and white supremacy. In 1876 white Democrats in Texas passed a new constitution requiring segregated schools and imposing a poll tax, which decreased the number of poor voters both black and white. By the late 19th century, they passed other Jim Crow rules. The system of school support was inadequate, and schools for minorities were seriously underfunded.
At the turn of the century, Texas followed other southern states in passage of laws that made voter registration and elections more complicated. In practical terms, the provisions disfranchised most blacks, and many poor whites and Latinos, a condition that persisted into the 1960s. Such provisions included a grandfather clause
Grandfather clause
Grandfather clause is a legal term used to describe a situation in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations, while a new rule will apply to all future situations. It is often used as a verb: to grandfather means to grant such an exemption...
, literacy tests and residency requirements difficult for sharecroppers and laborers to meet. In 1900 African Americans comprised 20% of the state's population of 3,084,710. The drop in proportion of population reflected greatly increased European immigration to the state in the 19th century, as well as population growth.
Like Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, the Texas Democratic Party adopted a whites-only primary. Since they politically dominated the state for decades after 1900, the only contest for office was at the primary level. The white primary was another way to exclude African Americans from making electoral decisions, and it was not overturned by the Supreme Court until 1944 in Smith v. Allwright
Smith v. Allwright
Smith v. Allwright , 321 U.S. 649 , was a very important decision of the United States Supreme Court with regard to voting rights and, by extension, racial desegregation. It overturned the Democratic Party's use of all-white primaries in Texas, and other states where the party used the...
. States that had used it adopted other means to keep most African Americans from voting.
African Americans immediately started raising legal challenges to disfranchisement, but early Supreme Court
Supreme court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of many legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, instance court, judgment court, high court, or apex court...
cases, such as Giles v. Harris
Giles v. Harris
Giles v. Harris, 189 U.S. 475 , was an early 20th century United States Supreme Court case in which the Court upheld a state constitution's requirements for voter registration and qualifications...
(1903), upheld the states. Through organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
(NAACP), African Americans continued to work to regain their ability to exercise their civil and voting rights as citizens.
External links
- Lester G. Bugbee, "Slavery in early Texas", The Political Science Quarterly, vol. III, no. 3, 1898, transcribed text, Sons of DeWitt Colony Texas Website
- Douglas Hales, "FREE BLACKS", Handbook of Texas Online