A City Council proposal would change Paul Manafort Drive to Ebenezer D.C. Bassett Way, citing that, “the name Paul Manafort has been mired in national scandal and guilty pleas.”
Paul Manafort Dr. is named after former Republican Mayor Paul Manafort. But the national scandals involving the former mayor’s son, also named Paul Manafort, have made the street name a source of controversy.
The Council resolution would rename the street, instead, in honor of Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett (1833-1908), who was the first African American graduate of the New Britain Normal School, the institution that would become Central Connecticut State University.
After graduating from New Britain’s institution of higher education, Bassett would go on to a life of great accomplishment. He was an educator, teaching in New Haven and serving at principal at the school that would become Cheyney University of Pennsylvania.
In 1869, President Ulysses S Grant, appointed Bassett as U.S. Minister to Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the head of the diplomatic mission. This made Bassett the first African American ambassador level diplomat, ever, from the United States.
Ebenezer Bassett: Abolitionist and Diplomat
A prominent abolitionist, Bassett met and befriended Frederick Douglass while he was a teacher in New Haven.
According to an article by Chris Teal in the Foreign Service Journal, during the Civil War, Bassett rallied African Americans to join in the fight for justice, by joining the Union army, saying,
Men of color, to arms! Now or never! This is our golden moment. The government of the United States calls for every able-bodied colored man to enter the army for three years of service, and join in fighting the battles of liberty and the Union. A new era is open to us. For generations we have suffered under the horrors of slavery, outrage and wrong; our manhood has been denied, our citizenship blotted out, our souls seared and burned, our spirits cowed and crushed, and the hopes of the future of our race involved in doubts and darkness.
But how the whole aspect of our relations to the white race is changed! Now, therefore, is the most precious moment. Let us rush to arms! Fail now, and our race is doomed on this soul of our birth.
According to Teal, Bassett served with distinction after President Grant appointed him as ambassador to Haiti. Teal described that Bassett advocated for the safety of refugees from a raging civil war. “Bassett not only negotiated safe passage for the refugees but personally escorted them to safety.”
“Bassett’s courage in literally placing himself in the line of fire to protect the rights of refugees and noncombatants should still inspire us a century-and-a-half later,” said Teal. “Similarly, his eloquence and determination in justifying those decisions to his government are precursors of the key role human rights would eventually assume in U.S. foreign policy.”
Manafort Controversy
For more than two years, the name of the street has become a focus for public debate and ire directed at former mayor Manafort’s son.
In April of 2016, as the younger Paul Manafort became the head of Donald Trump’s campaign, members of the Ukrainian-American community held a protest near the street.
As Contributing Columnist John McNamara wrote at the time,
The Hartford area’s Ukrainian-American community, including members of three church congregations in New Britain, is speaking out against a city native with a well-known name among Republicans — Paul Manafort, the son of a former mayor, longtime Washington lobbyist and now campaign manager for the GOP’s unlikely frontrunner, Donald J. Trump.
With Tuesday’s Connecticut Primary just ahead, local Ukrainian Americans are calling on the Trump campaign to dismiss Manafort for his representation of and campaign work for Victor Yanukovych, the former president of the Ukraine, whose regime is reported to have “ordered the shootings of more than 100 Ukrainian protestors” and “who stole tens of billions of dollars from Ukraine before fleeing to Russia.”
In August of 2018, the state online newspaper CTNewJunkie reported that Republican Mayor Erin Stewart had changed the name of Paul Manafort Dr. to Paul Manafort Sr. Dr. CTNewsJunkie quoted Stewart as saying that the change is, “just clarifying which Paul Manafort the street is after so CNN stops writing fake news articles.”
But the new Council resolution says, “the recent addition of the word ‘Sr’ to the name still brings attention to the national scandal and brings embarrassment to the city.”
Contemplating a new name
The street that is currently called Paul Manafort Dr. is located on the northern perimeter of Central Connecticut State University.
Juxtaposing against Bassett’s status as a distinguished alumnus of the university, the Council proposed resolution, says that, “Paul Manafort has no connection to the university.”
The Council resolution notes that, “Central Connecticut State University has created a Commemoration Committee to celebrate its most distinguished alumni, Ebenezer D.C. Bassett, class of 1853; an annual Bassett Day; and a humanitarian scholarship named after him.”
Now, the proposed Council resolution contemplates naming one of the major city streets bordering CCSU after that institution’s most notable graduate.
The resolution was proposed by Ald. Aram Ayalon (D-3), the Council President, Ald. Eva Magnuszewski (D-AL), the Council Majority Leader, Ald. Carlo Carlozzi, Jr. (D-5), Ald. Richard Reyes, (D-AL), Ald. Emmanuel Sanchez (D-AL), Ald. Iris Sanchez (D-3) and Ald. Francisco Santiago (D-5).
The proposal is on the agenda of the City Council meeting on September 26, 2018.
