Carpenter and Congressman

ID: 2910 ~ Source: “Richard Allen.” Photograph. State Preservation Board. https://lrl.texas.gov/legeLeaders/members/memberdisplay.cfm?memberID=4407#bio; Barr, Alwyn and Cary D. Wintz. “Allen, Richard (1830-1909).” Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. September 29, 2020. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/allen-richard.
This file appears in: Shep Mullens

After emancipation, Richard Allen worked as a carpenter, designing and building Houston mayor Joseph R. Morris’s home, and held a number of other positions, included commission agent, saloon owner, and quartermaster of the Black regiment of the Texas militia. While in the Twelfth Legislature, he advocated for education, civil rights, and like Mullens, a police force to curb violence in the state.

This file appears in: Shep Mullens

By Allie Roberts
At the end of the Civil War, a new nation seemed to be on the horizon. Emancipation and the beginning of Reconstruction signaled a shift in national, state, and local institutions across the country.…