NEW BRITAIN — A Connecticut university is one step closer to realizing a campaign to officially recognize the university’s first black graduate.
A key committee at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain unanimously endorsed a plan to rename a social sciences building after Ebenezer Bassett, who graduated from the then-Connecticut Normal School in 1853.
Bassett was the United States’ first-ever African-American diplomat in his role as Ambassador to Haiti under President Ulysses S. Grant.
The Hartford Courant reports educator William Fothergill has spent nearly a decade lobbying the Connecticut State University System to recognize Bassett. Fothergill says Wednesday’s vote was great process and recognizes a great man.
A final vote comes next month.
