Norris Wright Cuney

Who was Norris Wright Cuney?

Norris Wright Cuney, or simply Wright Cuney, was an American politician, businessman, union leader, and African-American activist in Texas in the United States. Following the American Civil War, he became active in Galveston politics, serving as an alderman and a national Republican delegate. Appointed as United States Collector of Customs in 1889 in Galveston, Cuney had the highest-ranking appointed position of any African American in the late 19th-century South. He was a member of the Union League and helped attract black voters to the Republican Party; in the 1890s, more than 100,000 blacks were voting in Texas.

Establishing his own business of stevedores, he helped to unionize black workers in Galveston, opening jobs for them on the docks. He substantially improved employment and educational opportunities for blacks in the city. He eventually rose to the chairmanship of the Texas Republican Party and became a national committeeman.

Cuney is regarded by many as the most important black leader in Texas in the 19th century and one of the most important in the United States. Born into slavery, he was freed by his white planter father and sent to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for his education. The war interrupted his plans to attend Oberlin College, but he continued to learn all his life. He also became active in black fraternal organizations, and was elected by black Masons as the grand master of the Grand Lodge of Texas in 1875.