Joshua Houston (c. 1822–1902) was born into
slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
in about 1822 on the
Perry County, Alabama
Perry County is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 8,511. Its county seat is Marion. The county was established in 1819 and is named in honor of Commodore Oliver Haz ...
plantation owned by Temple Lea and
Nancy Moffette Lea
Nancy Moffette Lea (1780–1864) was the mother of Margaret Lea Houston and mother-in-law of Sam Houston. She was an integral member of the Houston family, running the household when Margaret was ill or pregnant. She is believed to have helped her ...
, parents of
Margaret Lea Houston
Margaret Lea Houston (April 11, 1819 – December 3, 1867) was First Lady of the Republic of Texas during her husband Sam Houston's second term as President of the Republic of Texas. They met following the first of his two non-consecutive term ...
. When Margaret married
Sam Houston, Joshua moved to Texas with the newlyweds. Joshua traveled with Sam Houston and worked on the construction of Raven Hill in
Huntsville, Texas
Huntsville is a city in and the county seat of Walker County, Texas. The population was 45,941 as of the 2020 census. It is the center of the Huntsville micropolitan area. Huntsville is in the East Texas Piney Woods on Interstate 45 and home ...
. He became educated and was elected to local public offices. He had three wives and was the father of eight children,
including
Samuel Walker Houston. Joshua was a Texas delegate at the
1884 Republican National Convention. He helped establish the Bishop Ward Normal and Collegiate Institute.
Sam Houston slaves
The story of Sam Houston freeing his slaves before his 1863 death, in particular Joshua, has been passed down through history, and is recounted in various books. In ''From Slave To Statesman'', author Patricia Smith Prather depicts Houston reading a newspaper story to his slaves in the fall of 1862, about
Abraham Lincoln's September 1862
Emancipation Proclamation, telling them they would all be free as of January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation was not announced in Texas until June 1865,
Juneteenth
Juneteenth is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. Deriving its name from combining "June" and "nineteenth", it is celebrated on the anniversary of General Order No. 3, i ...
, two months after
Robert E. Lee surrendered at
Appomattox.
In 1861, the Texas legislature amended its Constitution of 1845, making it illegal to free slaves in the state.
Additionally, Section I removed any possibility of reverting that, "The Legislature shall have no power to pass laws for the emancipation of slaves".
When Houston died in 1863, his slaves were part of the inventory of his estate and valued at $10,530 (~$ in ). Joshua's son Samuel Walker Houston was born in February 1864, seven months after Sam Houston's death, and is always referred to as having been born into slavery.
Death
Joshua Houston died in 1902 and was buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Huntsville, the same cemetery where Sam Houston is buried.
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See also
*History of slavery in Texas
The history of slavery in Texas began slowly at first during the first few phases in Texas' history. Texas was a colonial territory, then part of Mexico, later Republic in 1836, and U.S. state in 1845. The use of slavery expanded in the mid-nine ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
Joshua Houston
at '' Handbook of Texas Online''
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Houston, Joshua
1820s births
1902 deaths
19th-century American slaves
Texas Republicans
People from Huntsville, Texas
People from Perry County, Alabama
Sam Houston