The Brazos Valley community has seen a variety of people over the thousands of year span of its habitation. Across The six counties of Brazos, Robertson, Grimes, Washington, Madison, and Leon counties, Brazos Valley is made up of twenty-four towns and cities and, in turn, countless communities and cultures.

African Americans have been a vital part of the Brazos Valley community since 1821 ¹ , although the first official census to include black was not recorded until 1850. African Americans were brought to the region to serve as slaves, mostly on local farms and plantations. With time, slavery flourished and came to dominate the lower Brazos River Valley more completely than anywhere else in Texas ² . "Trainloads of negro families" were transported to Brazos Valley plantations in order to help farm cotton crops, in the latter part of the nineteenth century ³ . Even more astounding is that on the eve of the Civil War, Washington County’s slave population exceeded 52 percent of the total slave population in the state and Brazos County’s slave population accounted for 38 percent of its 2, 776 county citizens. ³

The year 1865 brought the end of the Civil War and with it the emancipation, or freedom, of slaves. After the war ended, southern states began the process known as Reconstruction, which involved a reorganization of the state’s government and a period of adjustment for the newly freed slaves and their white counterparts. During the eight year period of Reconstructions, Brazos County was said to be "one of the least desirable places in the country for an African American to settle." ³ Despite the racial turmoil present, many former slaves remained in Brazos Valley and others migrated to the region, where blacks were already heavily concentrated ³ , in hopes that an African American majority would allow a place where blacks could have a voice in decisions, greater opportunity for advancement, and perhaps more protection from the violence of the period. ²

The transition from enslavement to freedom proved to be trying for both blacks and whites, alike. It is probable that Anglos possessed a fear of losing control over various situations. Quarrels over labor contracts, changes in agricultural labor practices, and the attendance of black children in schools all escalated tensions, until 1868, when violence reached its peak. In that year, the Ku Klux Klan emerged in Brazos County ¹ , and as armed confrontations increased, so did African American deaths. Eventually, acts of violence decreased. In place of violence, however, Anglos instituted other means of controlling the black population. By the year 1890, Brazos County’s African American population reached 8,845 making blacks the majority ¹ . Despite the majority (or most likely because of the majority) local Anglo Democrats instituted a "White Man’s Campaign" in 1890 to prevent African Americans from nominating and voting for political candidates, thereby preventing the possibility of a black candidate or even an Anglo who would fight for the advancement of blacks.

Despite the hardships, African Americans persevered and made opportunities for themselves, including serving in occupations that were not previously open to them. Three African Americans in Brazos County listed their occupations as blacksmiths. Most former slaves used their previous agricultural knowledge and continued to farm through tenant and sharecropper systems. Unfortunately, only 20 percent of black farmers owned their land compared to 50 percent of white land owners ¹ . Through the 1880s blacks held offices on the county commissioners’ court and Elias Mayes served in the Texas House of Representatives in 1879 and 1889 ¹ , and fought for racial desegregation.

Over the course of more than 150 years, African Americans have faced the ebb and flow that comes with settling a region. Today, African Americans account for 17.8 percent of Brazos Valley’s population and are an integral part of the community and culture that is Brazos Valley.