By B. SCOTT McLENDON The Daily News
The island’s Episcopalian community on Saturday is set to honor the state’s first Black reverend with a new headstone after 124 years of storms had reduced his gravesite to an nondescript patch of grass.
The 8-foot-tall monument at the Lakeview Cemetery will memorialize the Rev. Thomas W. Cain, who was born into slavery in 1843 in Petersburg, Virginia, and was chosen by the Episcopal Diocese of Texas in 1888 to become the first Black reverend for the church in the state.
It comes as Galveston officials are trying to give more recognition to the island’s Black history, and as the city tries to capitalize on the rising popularity of Juneteenth, the country’s newest national holiday, which began on the island.
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