Richard Allen

Richard Allen (June 10, 1830 – May 16, 1909) was an American carpenter, contractor, businessman and, after the Civil War, a Republican politician in Texas. He was elected to two terms in the Texas House of Representatives. In 1878, he was the first African American in Texas to run for statewide office, but was unsuccessful in his campaign for Lieutenant Governor of Texas.

Early life Richard Allen was born into slavery on June 10, 1830, in Richmond, Virginia.

Allen first entered public service in 1867, elected councilman in the Texas House of Councils while working as an agent for the Freedmen's Bureau, a federal organization created to assist emancipated slaves.

He joined the Republican Party. In 1868, he won a seat to represent Harris and Montgomery counties in the Texas Legislature, serving in the Twelfth Legislature in 1869. He was re-elected to the Thirteenth Texas Legislature, but the election was contested. The increasingly Democratic-dominated legislature seated his Democratic opponent, Gustave Cook, instead. After leaving the legislature, he continued to be active in the Republican Party. He attended state and national conventions as a delegate until 1896 (for more than two and a half decades). He was a Baptist, and was active in his church and in local community organizations.

Death Upon his death on May 16, 1909, in Houston, Allen was interred at the Olivewood Cemetery in Houston.