Career
Born a free black in Charleston, South Carolina in 1861, he moved to Texas about 1880. He served as principal of the Oakland Normal School in Colorado County in 1885. In 1890 he founded the Farmer"s Home Improvement Society, a farmer"s cooperative association whose purpose was to help poor blacks lift themselves out of poverty.
He was first elected to the legislature in 1895 and served until 1899.
He was the last African-American to serve in the Texas State Legislature until Barbara Jordan"s election in the 1960s. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1896.
In 1902, he was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt as Deputy United States. Marshal for the Eastern District of Texas. He is depicted at the lower left on the Black Legislators Monument erected in 2010 at the Texas State Cemetery.