The Texas Senate has a complex and often overlooked history when it comes to Black representation. While Texas was a slave state before the Civil War, the state did elect its first Black state senator, Matthew Gaines, in 1869 during the Reconstruction era. Gaines was a prominent leader in the Republican Party and advocated for civil rights and education for freedmen.

However, after Reconstruction ended in 1877, Texas, like many Southern states, implemented Jim Crow laws that effectively disenfranchised Black voters and limited the political power of African Americans. This resulted in a lack of Black representation in the Texas Senate for many decades.

It was not until the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s that significant progress was made in terms of Black representation in the Texas Senate. Barbara Jordan, a trailblazing Black woman, was elected to the Texas Senate in 1966, becoming the first Black state senator since Reconstruction. Jordan went on to become the first Black woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the South in 1972.

Since then, there have been other Black senators who have served in the Texas Senate, including Rodney Ellis and Royce West. They have continued to advocate for civil rights, education, and criminal justice reform, among other important issues impacting the Black community in Texas.