Editing Fulshear, Texas (section)

===American Civil War, slavery and sharecropping===
While few historical records exist on the [[American Civil War]] and the people of Fulshear, there are accounts that local landowners, surgeons, and commercial business men actively supported and enrolled in the Confederate Army during the Civil War.<ref name=":1" />

Two of the three active Fulshear cemeteries provide insights into the history of the non-white racial minorities.<ref>[https://ourtexastown.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/FM_Cemeteries.pdf Fulshear cemeteries]</ref> As was common practice prior to the Civil War, plantation owners like Churchill Fulshear would build separate cemeteries based on race.  In addition to farm labor, "Churchill Fulshear's slaves were put to work making the bricks for the Fulshear plantation mansion, called Lake Hill."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fort Bend County |url=https://www.fortbendcountytx.gov/home/showdocument?id=12648 |title=Fulshear Black Cemetery }}{{Dead link|date=May 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>  Since the mid-1800s, minority families were buried either in the Fulshear Black Cemetery or the Fulshear Spanish Cemetery, which were originally part of the Fulshear family plantation.<ref>{{cite web|title=Historic Fulshear ethnic cemeteries are families' link to the past|url=https://communityimpact.com/houston/katy/features/2017/10/25/historic-fulshear-black-and-spanish-cemeteries-are-families-link-to-the-past/|last=Brust|first=Amelia|date=October 25, 2017|website=impact|language=en|access-date=May 2, 2020}}</ref>  This includes many of the black sharecroppers who worked the land after the end of slavery in the United States.  A Texas Historical Marker here gives the historical information of the Black Cemetery:

{{block quote|Oral tradition says that this cemetery begin as a slave cemetery on the plantation of Tennessee native Churchill Fulshear. Many early burials are unmarked, and the oldest headstone is that of Rebecca Scott in 1915. In addition, midwives, a chef, a horse trainer and cowboy, the first colored school house founders, business men and women, two local entrepreneurs, religious leaders, and veterans from WWI to the Vietnam War are buried here. The rural landscape of the rolling hills and trees surrounding a variety of headstones made of fieldstone, granite, marble, steel, homemade concrete, wood and resin. The cemetery is evidence of the rich heritage of the people in this area.  Historic Texas Cemetery - 2010<ref>{{cite web|url=https://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/Details/5507017257|title=Details - Fulshear Black Cemetery - Atlas Number 5507017257 - Atlas: Texas Historical Commission|website=atlas.thc.state.tx.us|access-date=April 26, 2020}}</ref>}} 
After the abolition of slavery with defeat of the Confederacy, many of the emancipated slaves became [[sharecroppers]], which meant they rented land to farm it. Many grew cotton and potatoes, and supplemented their livelihood by raising chickens, eggs, and pigs as well as helping other farmers pick beans, potatoes, and peanuts.<ref name=":5" />  Many of these sharecroppers are buried in the Fulshear Black Cemetery.  In 1995, Fulshear Mayor [https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/fortbend/news/slideshow/Fulshear-celebrates-rich-heritage-67185.php Viola Randle] won a class-action lawsuit to legally define the Fulshear Black Cemetery as belonging to the Fulshear Black Cemetery Association and to prevent an attempt by a local property owner to restrict more burials in the cemetery.<ref name=":5">{{Cite news|last=Strickland|first=Susan|date=March 27, 2018|title=Grande Dame of Fushear Viola Gilmore Randle|work=Fulshear Magazine|url=https://issuu.com/realpropertymg/docs/fulshearmagazine_04_01|access-date=May 2, 2020}}</ref>

The Spanish Cemetery, which was often referred to as the "Catholic Cemetery," is just south of the Fulshear Cemetery and has an estimated 300 grave sites.<ref>{{Cite news|last=McJunkin|first=Daniel|date=March 30, 2017 |title=Fulshear Area Cemeteries|work=Fulshear Magazine|url=https://issuu.com/realpropertymg/docs/fulshearmagazine_03_01|access-date=May 2, 2020}}</ref>

Like elsewhere in Texas and the American South, the schools segregated based on race.  The original "white-only" school house was built in 1893 and was expanded into a two-story building in 1912.<ref name=":6">{{cite web|title=Fulshear Magazine Volume 2 - Number 2|url=https://issuu.com/realpropertymg/docs/fulshearmagazine_02_02/1|last=Strickland|first=Susan|website=issuu|date=July 2016 |access-date=May 3, 2020}}</ref>  The segregated school for Mexican students was located nearby. Two "black-only" school houses were built in rural areas several miles to the south and northwest of town.<ref name=":6" />  These Fulshear schools were merged into the Lamar Consolidated Independent School District in 1948.<ref name="Home to a Proud Past">{{cite web|title=Home to a Proud Past|url=http://www.fulsheartexas.gov/about_us/history.php|website=www.fulsheartexas.gov|access-date=May 3, 2020}}</ref>