From Enslaved to Empowered: The Legacy of African Descendants Continues

Determined Black women, cowboys and businessman were just a few that shaped our history.

The slave trade linked Britain to…Texas. British history can now honor Black foremothers and forefathers in our borderlands: Isabella sabotaged slavery by daring to own her own body and life. Emily West immigrated to Texas, where Mexico had abolished slavery--only to find herself first enslaved, then banished, and finally canonized in lore as a whore. 25% of iconic Texas cowboys were Black, bringing ancestral cattle-herding skills from Africa. Charles Bellinger, descendant of Africa and England, empowered Black voters in San Antonio, winning rare public works for Black neighborhoods. Dubbed the “Sepia Mayor of San Antonio” Bellinger paid a high price for championing Black equality and opportunity. Black San Antonians at long last are being rewritten into Texas history…and British history.