Shack Roberts

Meshack R. Roberts was enslaved, worked as a blacksmith, became a minister in the Methodist church, and served as state legislator and Republican Party official in Texas.[1]

His slaveowner, O. B. Roberts moved him to Gilmer, Texas in 1844.[1] He was a caretaker of Roberts family during the American Civil War and Roberts gave him and his family some land and materials for a log cabin after the war.[2] Two years later he was attacked and left for dead by the Ku Klux Klan in Gilmer, and moved to Marshall, Texas after recovering.[1]

In Marshall, he worked as a blacksmith and was a Methodist minister.[3] He won a seat in the state legislature in the 1873 election to the Thirteenth Legislature as a representative for the Fifth District including Rusk County, Texas and Harrison County, Texas, succeeding Mitchell Kendall.[1] He won two subsequent terms in office, the last for the Tenth District, representing Harrison County. The Citizen's Party of Harrison County came to power in a disputed 1878 election as Democrats increasingly regained control after the Reconstruction era ended and restored white supremacy.[1][2]

Illiterate, he was known for his speeches in the "camp meeting" style and being clear, logical and irresistible.[4] He signed documents with an X.[2] He was also a preacher and with his church helped establish Wiley College.[2][5] He was recorded as having a wife and daughter.[6]

He was honored by the 79th Texas Legislature in 2005, along with other early African-American legislators, for their service to Texas.[5]