Grover Sellers Explained

Grover Sellers
Office:38th Attorney General of Texas
Term Start:1943
Term End:1946
Predecessor:Gerald Mann
Successor:Price Daniel
Birth Date:20 November 1892
Birth Place:Louisiana, U.S.
Death Place:Sulphur Springs, Texas
Spouse:Hazel
Children:Clara Lee Sellers and Helen Sellers
Party:Democratic

Grover Sellers (November 20, 1892 – August 27, 1980) was Attorney General of Texas from 1944 to 1946.

Early years

Sellers was born in Louisiana on November 20, 1892. He married his wife Hazel and had two daughters, Clara Lee and Helen.

Career

He was elected a Delegate to the 1928 Democratic National Convention from Texas.

In 1930, Sellers defeated Justice William Hodges in the Democratic Primary and was subsequently elected a Justice of the Sixth Court of Appeals in Texarkana. Reelected in 1936, Sellers resigned his office to become Attorney General of Texas.[1]

He served one term as Attorney General, from 1944 - 1946. During his term of office, Heman Sweatt, a black man, applied for admission to The University of Texas Law School, which was then segregated for whites only. Sellers opposed Sweatt's admission, citing the "wise and long continued policy of segregation of races in the educational institutions of the state."[2]

Sellers ran for Governor of Texas in the crowded Democratic Primary in 1946. He lost the primary to Beauford H. Jester, coming in third.

Later, he was appointed to the 12th Court of Appeals in Tyler. In 1964, Sellers was elected as a Delegate to the 1964 Democratic National Convention.

Local dairy industry leaders

Judge Grover Sellers owned and operated one of the early Jersey Herds in Hopkins County on his farm in the Star Ridge Community. Sellers is considered one of the "moving forces" in bringing the dairy industry to Hopkins County.[3]

Death

Sellers died on August 27, 1980, in Sulphur Springs, Texas.

Notes and References

  1. http://www.6thcoa.courts.state.tx.us/court/centennialbook.pdf History of the Court, Donald R. Ross, 2006|
  2. Negro Year Book, 1941-1946. Tuskegee Institute.https://archive.org/stream/negroyearbookrev00guzmrich/negroyearbookrev00guzmrich_djvu.txt
  3. Web site: Dairy Fest 1962 . 2009-12-20 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110623204716/http://frontporchnewstexas.com/dairyfest1962.htm . 2011-06-23 . dead .