Bio provided by Sherry:
Was born into slavery in Marshall, Texas, the son of a slave named Matilda and Capt. Bird Holland. At some point in the 1850's, his father Bird Holland purchased freedom for William and his two brothers, James and Milton, and sent them to Ohio. There both William and Milton attended the Albany Enterprise Academy, a school owned and operated by African Americans. William enlisted in the Union Army's Sixteenth United States Colored Troops.
After the war, William entered Oberlin College in Ohio and returned to Texas after two years to teach school in Austin. He later moved to Waller County and in 1876 won election to the Fifteenth Legislature in 1876 as a representative from that county. In the legislature he sponsored the bill providing for Prairie View Normal College. William also helped establish the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Institute for Colored Youth in 1887, and Governor Lawrence S. Ross appointed him to serve as the institute's first superintendent.
Was born into slavery in Marshall, Texas, the son of a slave named Matilda and Capt. Bird Holland. At some point in the 1850's, his father Bird Holland purchased freedom for William and his two brothers, James and Milton, and sent them to Ohio. There both William and Milton attended the Albany Enterprise Academy, a school owned and operated by African Americans. William enlisted in the Union Army's Sixteenth United States Colored Troops.
After the war, William entered Oberlin College in Ohio and returned to Texas after two years to teach school in Austin. He later moved to Waller County and in 1876 won election to the Fifteenth Legislature in 1876 as a representative from that county. In the legislature he sponsored the bill providing for Prairie View Normal College. William also helped establish the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Institute for Colored Youth in 1887, and Governor Lawrence S. Ross appointed him to serve as the institute's first superintendent.
Bio provided by Sherry:
Was born into slavery in Marshall, Texas, the son of a slave named Matilda and Capt. Bird Holland. At some point in the 1850's, his father Bird Holland purchased freedom for William and his two brothers, James and Milton, and sent them to Ohio. There both William and Milton attended the Albany Enterprise Academy, a school owned and operated by African Americans. William enlisted in the Union Army's Sixteenth United States Colored Troops.
After the war, William entered Oberlin College in Ohio and returned to Texas after two years to teach school in Austin. He later moved to Waller County and in 1876 won election to the Fifteenth Legislature in 1876 as a representative from that county. In the legislature he sponsored the bill providing for Prairie View Normal College. William also helped establish the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Institute for Colored Youth in 1887, and Governor Lawrence S. Ross appointed him to serve as the institute's first superintendent.
Was born into slavery in Marshall, Texas, the son of a slave named Matilda and Capt. Bird Holland. At some point in the 1850's, his father Bird Holland purchased freedom for William and his two brothers, James and Milton, and sent them to Ohio. There both William and Milton attended the Albany Enterprise Academy, a school owned and operated by African Americans. William enlisted in the Union Army's Sixteenth United States Colored Troops.
After the war, William entered Oberlin College in Ohio and returned to Texas after two years to teach school in Austin. He later moved to Waller County and in 1876 won election to the Fifteenth Legislature in 1876 as a representative from that county. In the legislature he sponsored the bill providing for Prairie View Normal College. William also helped establish the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Institute for Colored Youth in 1887, and Governor Lawrence S. Ross appointed him to serve as the institute's first superintendent.
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