George Ruby
African-American politician in Reconstruction Texas / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
George Thompson Ruby (c. 1841ā1882) was an African-American Republican politician in Reconstruction-era Texas. Born in New York to African-American businessman Reuben Ruby and Rachel Humphey and raised in Portland, Maine,[1] he worked in Boston and Haiti before starting teaching in New Orleans before the end of the American Civil War.
George Thompson Ruby | |
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Texas State Senator from District 12 (Brazoria, Galveston, and Matagorda Counties) | |
In office February 8, 1870 ā January 13, 1874 | |
Succeeded by | Benjamin Cromwell Franklin |
Personal details | |
Born | c. 1841 New York City, U.S. |
Died | October 31, 1882 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
Political party | Republican |
Occupation | Journalist, teacher |
Moving to Galveston, Texas, in 1866, where he worked as an agent for the Freedmen's Bureau, Ruby also organized for the Republican Party. He served as one of ten African-Americans elected to the 1868-1869 state constitutional convention,[2] in the Texas Senate, and as a delegate to two Republican Party national conventions. At the first he was the only African American delegate from Texas.[2] He also was active with labor unions, founding and serving as president of the Texas Colored Labor Convention. He earned a reputation as an educator of Louisiana African-Americans, returning to New Orleans in 1874 after the Euro-American Democratic takeover of the Texas government. He worked as a journalist in that city.