UNT Press

About Prather and Monday's From Slave to Statesman

From Slave to Statesman: The Legacy of Joshua Houston, Servant to Sam Houston is now available as a free e-book at the UNT Digital Library and The Portal to Texas History.

“A fascinating… account of the life and legacy of… a slave… who became… one of the first black city aldermen and property owners during Reconstruction… A good example of history from the bottom up.” —Library Journal

“Imaginative biography… Of particular interest is the authors’ ingenious research: they assembled Joshua’s story from Margaret and Sam Houston’s correspondence and from the family stories of Joshua’s descendants.” —Booklist

This is the story of the “other” Houston. Born in Alabama in 1822, Joshua was the slave of Margaret Lea until she married Sam Houston and moved to Texas in 1840. He served the family as trusted servant, blacksmith, carpenter, architect, wheelwright, and driver, until General Houston freed him in 1862.

In telling his story, the authors have emphasized those details which made Joshua unique among slaves: he was taught to read and write, was allowed to keep money he earned, and upon the general’s death offered his widow $2000 in gold to help support her family. During Reconstruction he was one of the first Black city aldermen, county commissioners and property owners, and he became a leader in the Black community’s struggle to educate its members.

This story is set in a background of southern social history before, during, and after the Civil War, drawn from evidence in slave autobiographies and biographies; Houston family letters, oral histories of descendants of both Houston families; birth, marriage, and death records; land records and deeds; and church and school records.

“Joshua Houston’s story is absorbing and instructive by itself, but this book is more than the biography of one man… It provides nothing less than a detailed account of the emergence of a Black middle class… after the Civil War.” —Texas Review