Senator Matthew Gaines

To compliment my photo of Lawrence Sullivan Ross yesterday, I decided to make a trip to campus with the primary objective of taking a photo of the Matthew Gaines statue. The sky had beautiful clouds despite the 100 °F temperatures in the middle of the day. Yesterday was also one of the few days remaining without tons of people everywhere for the shots I wanted. Traffic in town is picking up and restaurants are getting full. My trip yesterday will likely be the subject of my next two weeks (or so) of photos. I hope you enjoy this sequence of photos as they were earned with much sweat!

First, a quick diversion. The trip ended up being a bit of a reminder of my retirement as Saturday was the first day in 10 years that I did not have a valid parking permit (saving me $650/year!). Retirement is beginning to feel real as the semester is ramping up with the Corps FOW  (Freshman Orientation Week) starting this same Saturday afternoon.

As A&M worked through the Sul Ross controversy, a decision was made to erect a statue honoring one of the first black senators of Texas following the Civil War. Senator Matthew Gaines was a key supporter of creating Texas A&M and Prairie View A&M. If you can't read the inscription in the photo, I have copied it here (hopefully without mistakes).

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Senator Matthew Gaines

Just four years after Juneteenth, Gaines won election to the Texas State Senate by a two-to-one margin over his closest contender; becoming one of two Black senators and twelve Black representatives seated in the 12th Texas Legislature in 1870.

The next year, he advocated for the passage of a school bill promoting public education for all races in Senate Bill No. 276.

Senate Bill No. 276 allowed Texas to take advantage of the 1862 Land Grant College Act, making the Agriculture and Mechanical College of Texas, now Texas A&M University and Prairie View A&M University, possible.
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It is clear that Matthew Gaines deserves equal recognition to LSR and I'm glad to see the addition to the campus. As depicted in the statue, he climbed many stairs while holding out his hand helping others. The push for his recognition started before the LSW protests but those events certainly encouraged the completion of the statue. The statue was dedicated on November 19, 2021 and is located between the MSC (Memorial Student Center) and the new Student Services Building.

I enjoyed seeing the number 12 show up in this story decades before the 12th Man Tradition!

I couldn't decide which photo I liked more so I have included my two favorites.

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