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The Brotherhood Initiative and the Africana Center cordially invite the campus community to celebrate Ebenezer Bassett Day on Thursday, Oct. 13, from 2 to 4 p.m. Visit us at the entrance to Bassett Hall (facing Welte Hall) and enjoy blue and white cookies and giveaways.
Bassett Day celebrates the memory of Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett, who was the first African American to attend and graduate from State Normal School (now known as Central Connecticut State University) in 1853. He was a prominent leader in the abolitionist movement and he advocated for the right of black men to fight in the Civil War. He worked closely with Frederick Douglass.
In 1869, he was the first African American appointed as a United States Diplomatic Minister/Ambassador in Haiti.