Sheppard "Shep" Mullens
Waco, McLennan County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Following the American Civil War and Emancipation of slaves in 1865, it was not until 1867 that African Americans in Texas were able to uniformly register to vote, following the ratification of the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. While African Americans served as delegates to state constitutional conventions prior to 1870, the first African Americans elected to serve in the Texas Legislature were elected to the 12th Legislature, which convened in provisional session on February 8, 1870. Prior to the end of federal Reconstruction in 1870, twelve African Americans served in the Texas House of Representatives, and two served in the Texas Senate. This marker is erected in honor of: Sheppard "Shep" Mullens (c. 1829 - August 6, 1871) representative in the 12th Texas Legislature representing McLennan, Limestone and Falls counties. Sheppard (also Shep, Shepperd, Sheppert) Mullens (also Mullins) was born into slavery in Lawrence County, Alabama around 1829. He was brought to Texas in 1854. After Emancipation, Mullens acquired several lots in Waco and other land in McLennan County. On December 29, 1866, he married Sallie Downs. Mullens emerged as a community leader, was appointed to register voters in the county, and served as a delegate to the Republican Party convention and Constitutional Convention of 1868-69. Mullens won a seat in the 12th Texas Legislature. He served on the Immigration and Privileges and Elections committees. While still in his term of service, Mullens died on August 6, 1871, in Waco and was buried at First Street Cemetery. Erected by the 88th Texas Legislature and the Texas Historical Commission as Authorized by SB 667 (2023)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Born into slavery in Alabama around 1829 and brought to Texas in 1854, Sheppard "Shep" Mullens emerged after Emancipation as a Waco community leader — acquiring land, registering voters, and serving as a delegate to the 1868-69 Constitutional Convention. In 1870 he won a seat in the 12th Texas Legislature, among the first African Americans ever to serve there, representing McLennan, Limestone, and Falls counties. He died in office in 1871 and was buried in Waco's First Street Cemetery; the state placed this marker in his honor in 2023.
Why it matters
Mullens was part of the first generation of Black Texans to hold elective office, a brief Reconstruction opening of the political system that would be shut down for nearly a century afterward.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
When the Civil War ended and Emancipation reached Texas in 1865, roughly a quarter of a million enslaved Texans became free. Freedom did not bring political rights with it, though. For a short, remarkable period during Reconstruction, Black Texans won the vote and began sending their own leaders to public office.
Beginning in 1867, under the federal Reconstruction program, African Americans across Texas were able to register to vote. Black delegates took part in writing a new state constitution. When the 12th Legislature convened in 1870, it included the first African Americans ever elected to serve in it. Twelve Black men sat in the Texas House and two in the Senate during that brief window.
Waco and the surrounding Brazos country had been cotton country, built on enslaved labor. That makes it all the more striking that a man once enslaved there would come to represent McLennan, Limestone and Falls counties in Austin within a few years of freedom.
People & events
Sheppard Mullens was born into slavery in Lawrence County, Alabama, around 1829, and was brought to Texas in 1854. The record spells his name several ways, Shep, Shepperd, Sheppert, Mullins. That is common for people whose early lives were documented by others rather than by themselves.
After Emancipation he moved quickly to build a free life. He acquired town lots in Waco and other land in McLennan County, a real achievement for a man who had been legally barred from owning property. In December 1866 he married Sallie Downs, and in those years many freedpeople formalized family bonds that slavery had refused to recognize.
Mullens became a community leader. He was appointed to register voters in the county, served as a delegate to the Republican Party convention, and helped write the Constitutional Convention of 1868-69. He then won a seat in the 12th Legislature, serving on the Immigration and Privileges and Elections committees. He did not live to finish his term. He died in Waco on August 6, 1871, and was buried in First Street Cemetery.
Its place in the American story
Mullens belongs to the first generation of Black lawmakers in American history, men who went from enslavement to legislative chambers in a handful of years. Across the former Confederacy, Reconstruction produced hundreds of such officeholders, and their presence tested whether the promise of emancipation would include a real share of political power.
That opening did not last. In Texas as elsewhere in the South, violence, intimidation and later disfranchisement laws steadily pushed Black citizens out of politics. It would be generations before Black Texans again served in the Legislature in any meaningful numbers, a gap that makes the Reconstruction lawmakers all the more significant.
The marker is also a story about memory. It was erected in 2023 under legislation passed by the 88th Texas Legislature to honor these early members, and it is part of a broader national effort to restore Reconstruction-era Black leaders to the public record after long neglect.
If you visit
The marker stands in Waco, the city where Mullens built his free life, owned land and was laid to rest. Take a moment to consider the distance he travelled: from enslavement in Alabama to a seat in the Texas Legislature, in a single lifetime cut short in his early forties.
If you want to extend the visit, his burial place at First Street Cemetery is part of his story, and Waco's older neighborhoods and riverfront give a sense of the Brazos River town he knew. It is a thoughtful stop for families who want to talk about Reconstruction, voting rights and what it meant to cast a first ballot.
Waco sits along a major north-south route through Central Texas, so the marker fits easily into a road trip between Dallas and Austin. Consider pairing it with the state capitol in Austin, where Mullens and the other members of the 12th Legislature did their work.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
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Themes & tags
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