 Galveston has been home to many important figures in Texas and U.S. history . During the island 's earliest history it became the domain of Jean Lafitte , the famed pirate and American hero of the War of 1812 . Richard <unk> , Jr. who represented Galveston in the Senate of the Second Texas Legislature in 1847 and assisted in drawing up the Constitution of 1845 . He was also the grandson of Benjamin Franklin , one of the <unk> Fathers of the United States of America and Deborah Read . In 1886 , the African @-@ American Galveston civil rights leader Norris Wright Cuney rose to become the head of the Texas Republican Party and one of the most important Southern black leaders of the century . Noted portrait and landscape artist <unk> Moore White moved from Galveston the day before the 1900 hurricane . While he survived , his studio and much of his portfolio were destroyed . A survivor of the hurricane was the Hollywood director King <unk> , who made his directing debut in 1913 with the film Hurricane in Galveston . Later Jack Johnson , nicknamed the “ Galveston Giant ” , became the first black world heavyweight boxing champion . 
