David Abner Sr. (c. 1826–1902) was an American politician who served in the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. There are no Term limits in the United States, term limits. The ...

. Born into

slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

Selma, Alabama Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, in the Black Belt region of south central Alabama and extending to the west. Located on the banks of the Alabama River, the city has a population of 17,971 as of the 2020 census. Abou ...

, he served in the Fourteenth Texas Legislature for District 5 and sat on the Education Committee. He was a delegate to the 1875 Texas Constitutional Convention.

Early life

At the age of seventeen, Abner in 1843 was taken to Upshur County in

East Texas East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that consists of approximately 38 counties. It is roughly divided into Northeast Texas, Northeast, Southeast Texas, Sout ...

. After being emancipated after the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, he moved to

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia *Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria ** Marshall railway station Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Is ...

in Harrison County, also in East Texas. There, he rented a plot of land and a mule from the sister of his original master. A few years later, he purchased the farm and became wealthy.

Political life

In 1873, Abner was appointed to the executive committee of the first Colored Men's State Convention. Later, he was elected to the position of treasurer for Harrison County. In 1874, Abner was elected to the legislature for Harrison and

Rusk A rusk is a hard, dry Biscuit#Biscuits in British usage, biscuit or a twice-baked bread. It is sometimes used as a teether for babies. In some cultures, rusk is made of cake rather than bread: this is sometimes referred to as cake rusk. In the ...

counties. Halfway through his term in the state House, in August 1875, a convention was called to rewrite the 1869

Texas State Constitution The Constitution of the State of Texas is the document that establishes the structure and function of the government of the U.S. state of Texas and enumerates the basic rights of its citizens. The current document was adopted on February 15, 187 ...

. Abner was one of three delegates elected to the convention from the

Texas State Senate The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas Legislature, with the Texas House of Representatives functioning as the lower house. Together, they form the state legislature of the state of Texas. The Senate is made up of 31 members, where eac ...

district that comprised Harison and Rusk counties. He was the only Republican at the convention who voted for a clause in the state constitution that prohibited the state from spending money for the encouragement of immigration. After his state legislative term, Abner was the vice president of the Republican State Convention in 1876.

After politics

Son, David Abner Jr. In 1881, Abner helped establish

Bishop College Bishop College was a historically black college, founded in Marshall, Texas, United States, in 1881 by the Baptist Home Mission Society. It was intended to serve students in east Texas, where the majority of the black population lived at the ...

, and served as one of its first trustees. In 1884, his son David Abner Jr., became the first black man to graduate from a Texas college, and later became president of Guadalupe College and then of Conroe College.ABNER, DAVID, JR.
at the Texas State Historical Association; by Diana J. Kleiner. Retrieved October 30, 2013 Abner died in 1902 in Marshall, Texas, and is interred there at a family cemetery.

Notes

* Article 16, section 56 of the Texas State Constitution states: "The Legislature shall have no power to appropriate any of the public money for the establishment and maintenance of a bureau of immigration, or for any purpose of bringing immigrants to this State." It was part of the Constitution from 1875 until repealed in 2001.

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abner, David 1820s births Year of birth uncertain 1902 deaths Republican Party members of the Texas House of Representatives African-American politicians during the Reconstruction Era African-American state legislators in Texas Politicians from Selma, Alabama People from Upshur County, Texas People from Marshall, Texas 19th-century American slaves 20th-century African-American people People enslaved in Alabama 19th-century members of the Texas Legislature