Central Connecticut State University is holding its 2021 Ebenezer D. Bassett Student Achievement Award Ceremony online tomorrow, May 6, 2021.
CCSU says that, “This ceremony is part of our commitment to ‘Honoring the man, supporting the student, continuing the legacy’ of Ebenezer D. Bassett, the university’s first African American scholar.”
“Bassett scholarships and programs, such as the Brotherhood Initiative,” CCSU says, “show that by positively impacting the lives of these men, we promote a better future for all.”
The Ceremony is to be held tomorrow, May 6, 2021 at 5:30pm. It is to be held online, via WebEx. The University has published the link to launch the WebEx event online. CCSU says that, “To join by meeting number, enter access code 120 250 4453. Meeting password: 5JSeNS9x5Kuv.”
First African American CCSU Graduate and Educator
Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett (1833-1908), was the first African American graduate of the New Britain Normal School, the institution that would later become Central Connecticut State University. In 2019, history was made at CCSU when Bassett’s alma mater dedicated Ebenezer D. Bassett Hall in his honor, after scholarly work brought renewed attention to Bassett’s extraordinary life and accomplishments.
After graduating from the New Britain Normal School, Bassett would go on to a life of great accomplishment. He was an educator, teaching in New Haven and serving as principal at the Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia, the school that would become Cheyney University of Pennsylvania.
Under Bassett’s leadership as principal, the Board of Regents noted, the Institute, “established a Normal School division whose pedagogy was based on the educational reforms initiated by the Connecticut State Normal School.”
Abolitionist Leader
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.
Ambassador and Trailblazer for Human Rights
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.
According to Teal, Bassett served with distinction after President Grant appointed him as Ambassador. 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.”
