Reconstruction Texas Legislator Richard Allen

Posted Dan Gore Sr.

During the period of Reconstruction and extending into the 1880’s, Negro (African American) Texans were among those elected to the state legislature.

They worked to protect cattlemen and build a more prosperous state. In 1870 a former slave named Richard Allen devised the Texas pension law for veterans, and as chairman of the Committee on Roads and Bridges of the Texas legislature, Representative Allen helped link this vast state with a system of bridges and roads.