Edward L. Blackshear

Edward Lavoisier Blackshear (erroneously Levoisier or Levoscer; the son of Adlene Pollard and Abram Vandiver. His mother was a house slave, and as a result, he became literate as a child. He later attended Montgomery's first black public school, followed by Swayne College. He settled Ellis County, then in Bastrop County, teaching in both. Also in 1882, he worked as a telegraph installer for the Texas Midland Railroad in order to recover from poor health. After recovering, he became an educator at Paul Quinn College, leaving in early 1883 to teach at the Eighth Ward School in Fort Worth. He founded the Negro State Farmers' Congress of Texas, serving as its president for several years. In 1913, he became president of the National Negro Farmers' Congress, in Birmingham, Alabama. By March 1919, he was an agricultural extension field agent.

Blackshear was a prohibitionist Republican. He was reappointed president by the board of directors, serving from 1915, until his resignation June 12 of the same year.