@Regrann from @guoofcarolinas - For the Texans..... Norris Wright Cuney, or simply Wright Cuney, (May 12, 1846 – March 3, 1898) was an American politician, businessman, union leader, and African-American activist in Texas in the United States. Following the American #CivilWar, he became active in #Galveston politics, serving as an alderman and a national Republican delegate. Appointed as United States Collector of Customs in 1889 in Galveston, Cuney had the highest-ranking appointed position of any African American in the late 19th-century South. He was a member of the Union League and helped attract black voters to the Republican Party; in the 1890s, more than 100,000 blacks were voting in #Texas. Cuney is regarded by many as the most important black leader in Texas in the 19th century and one of the most important in the United States. Of mixed race and majority-white ancestry, he was born into slavery. He was freed by his white planter father and sent north to #Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for his education. The war interrupted his plans to attend #OberlinCollege, but he continued to learn all his life. Cuney became active in black #fraternal organizations such as #KnightsofPythias and the Grand United Order of #OddFellows, and #PrinceHall of the #Freemasons. This was a period of dramatic growth in the South and nationally of black fraternal organizations, part of the political organizing by freedmen. Cuney recruited new members and contributed to the growth in the number of black Freemasons, which struggled to be recognized by white chapters in Texas. In 1875 Cuney was elected as the first grand master of the Grand Lodge of Texas organized by black Masons from 1875 to 1877. #oddfellows #guoof #guoofof #fnam #masonic #texasoddfellows #texasmasons #history - #regrann
