STATUE DEDICATION FRIDAY AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY

  

Texas A&M University will be dedicating a bronze statue Friday.  After many years of fundraising, the statue of Matthew Gaines will be unveiled on the Texas A&M campus at 3:00 PM Friday.

Gaines was the first African-American state senator in Texas and was instrumental in the passing of the Morrill Act, the legislation that created the Agricultural and Mechanical College in Texas.  Although born in Louisiana, he spent much of his life in Washington County, were he established himself as a leader of the freedmen, both as a Baptist preacher and a politician.  At one time, the statue or a duplicate were to be placed in Washington County.  Richard Stadelmann, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Texas A&M talks about Gaines:

The $350,000 needed to build the statue was raised mostly by the Matthew Gaines Society who also raised statewide awareness of Matthew Gaines.  The statue will be placed in a high traffic area on the Texas A&M Campus, near the Student Services Center, Rudder Plaza, and the Memorial Student Center.  For more information about Matthew Gains, visit: https://studentaffairs.tamu.edu/matthew-gaines-statue/