Tucker, Hagar
(born: 1842 - died: 1892)Hagar Tucker from Kentucky was the first African American police officer in Fort Worth, TX. The police department had been formed in 1873. More than a century later, the Fort Worth Police Historical Association led the effort to replace Tucker's headstone in Trinity Cemetery.
Tucker had been enslaved by William B. Tucker, Sr. from Casey County, KY; he had moved his family and enslaved people to Fort Worth [then an army garrison] in 1852. They were among the earliest settlers of Tarrant County, TX.
William B. Tucker was elected sheriff in 1856, Office of District Clerk in 1858, and Justice of the Peace in 1862. Hagar Tucker was a free man in 1865, and he married Amy, also a former enslaved person by William B. Tucker, Sr. Hagar became a landowner, registered to vote, and in 1873 was appointed a special policeman.
When Hagar found other employment, there would not be another African American police officer in Fort Worth until the 1950s. In 2007, a Texas Historical Marker #12192 was placed at Hagar Tucker's grave site.
For more on Hagar Tucker, see B. R. Sanders, "Former slave has place in police history," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 3/25/2007, Metro section, p. B1. For more on William B. Tucker, Sr., see Tarrant County, Tx Sheriff: over 150 years service, by Turner Publishing Company, Tarrant County (Tex.) Sheriff's Office.