Union Guiding Star Association

The Union Guiding Star Association appears to have been a fraternal organization for Black Texans primarily in Houston and Galveston that emerged during Reconstruction. In 1879, the Galveston News described it as “a benevolent organization” with “branchest in various parts of the state.”¹ The next year, the same newspaper reported that the association “has for its object benevolent work, care of members, and has been in operation since May 9, 1870. There are 75 members in the city, and as many more in the state.”² Later that year, a meeting was announced to coordinate the group’s participation in a reception for Ulysses S. Grant.³

The group was also active in Juneteenth and May Day celebrations in Houston and Galveston. In 1872, the Galveston Representative put out a notice that officers of several organizations would be gathering to plan the upcoming Juneteenth celebration. Among the groups was the Union Guiding Star Association.⁴

In 1875, the Daily Telegraph reported that:

The colored people have been having a fair, for some purpose, during the past two nights, at a building on Travis street. Last night we endeavored to ascertain the object, so we questioned a number of darkies concerning it. All the information we could get concerning it was, ‘Dat it was fur de benefit of some star;’ ‘Guiden’ star,‘’Young star,’ ‘Risin’ star,‘’star ob de eben,’ or ‘some oder ’ciety.’ We suppose ‘de risin’ star’ will guide ‘de ’ciety’ fair-ly through the benefit.⁵

The group appeared again at:

• the 1874 Juneteenth celebration in Galveston, and also in Houston (see Juneteenth)
• the 1875 Juneteenth in Galveston
• an 1876 May picnic, this time specifically identified as a Houston organization or chapter
• the 1876 Juneteenth in Galveston
• another May picnic in 1877 that brought the Houston and Galveston groups together at Wurzlow’s Gardens.
• the 1877 Juneteenth in Galveston at Schmidt’s Gardens, as well as the 1877 Houston Juneteenth, where its members led by president Frank Brooks wore “badges, inscribed U.G.S.A.”
• the 1878 Juneteenth in Galveston

The group built a meeting hall in Galveston on Avenue M, between 29th and 30th streets, in the summer of 1876.⁶ And in 1878, its third annual convention was held at Columbus, with Van B. Davis elected president.⁷

The next year, the Houston chapter gathered in the concrete building to install officers.⁸

An amendment to its charter in 1882 provided that “the wife, mother and children shall be entitled to benefits accruing on the death of a member.”⁹

The active life of the organization appears to have lapsed by the turn of the century, but it did secure a state charter, with no capital, in 1909.¹⁰