Tazewell Branch (May 13, 1828 – April 30, 1925) was an American state legislator, former slave, and a shoemaker.
[2] Branch was born into slavery on May 13, 1828, in Prince Edward County, Virginia and served as a house servant and shoemaker until his emancipation.
[3] After his term in the House of Delegates, Branch served as an assistant assessor of internal revenue, a position he was dismissed from in October 1881.
Branch then worked as a shoemaker and later ran a grocery store but found little success in either venture.
[3] His daughter Mary Elizabeth Branch served as the president for Huston–Tillotson University (then called Tillotson College) and attended Virginia State University (then called Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute), which has named its Branch Hall after her.