The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 77, July 1973 - April, 1974 Page: 444

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

Perhaps the severest indictment of radicalism in Texas, however, came
from its alleged beneficiaries, the recently freed blacks. As black State Sen-
ator Matt Gaines angrily declared after two frustrating years of so-called
radical Reconstruction, the white Republicans in Texas had failed to include
the black population in their reconstruction plans, refused to award blacks
prominent offices, and continued to discriminate against them in govern-
ment. The Colored Men's Convention, held in Brenham, Texas, in 1873,
also reflected this disenchantment. Declaring their major objective to be
human dignity for all men, the black delegates proclaimed, "We . . . de-
mand our Civil Rights . . . and shall agitate . . . until we can celebrate
their acquisition."" Tragically, the radical Texas congressmen-Clark,
Whitmore, Degener, Flanagan, and Hamilton-ignored this Negro plea for
civil rights while in Congress and the dream of the Texas blacks for equality
remained just that, a dream.
also joined the Liberal Republican ranks, he did so only after the Senate Republicans had
prevented passage of his civil rights bill. As a Liberal Republican, Sumner continued to
struggle for black rights. Ibid., 96; Donald, Charles Sumner, 551-552.
53The Reformer (Austin), October 14, 1871, cited in John T. Hill, Jr., "The Negro
in Texas during Reconstruction," (M.A. thesis, Texas Christian University, 1965), 71;
Colored Men's Convention, 1873, in Winkler, Platforms of Political Parties, 149 (quota-
tion).

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