As a powerful politician and union leader, Norris Wright Cuney helped give blacks a voice during Reconstruction.

Cuney was born near Hempstead on May 12, 1846, to a white proprietor and one of his slaves. After attending school in Pennsylvania, Cuney returned to Galveston as a teen. He studied law and literature as he worked his way up the ranks of a stevedoring company.

His education and skill helped him climb in the state'sRepublican Party, charting new ground as a black politician. In 1870, he was appointed first sergeant-at-arms of the Texas Legislature, and in 1871 was appointed president of the Galveston Union League.

He served as a delegate to the national Republican convention in 1872 and served in that capacity for two decades.

But his political career had mixed success. He lost an 1875 bid for Galveston mayor as well as subsequent elections for the state Legislature before being elected to the Galveston City Council in 1883.

During that time, he helped blacks gain jobs and equal wages on the Galveston dock.

Cuney died March 3, 1898, at the age of 51. He's the namesake of the Cuney Homes, a public housing complex near Texas Southern University, and of the Houston chapter of the Prince Hall Freemasonry.