NEW HAVEN, Conn. — February is Black History Month, and FOX61 is looking at notable Black historical figures from Connecticut.
Edward Bouchet was an American physicist and educator who was the first Black person to earn a Ph.D. from any American university, and one of only six at the time to have that degree in physics in the country.
Bouchet was born in New Haven on Sept. 15, 1852, to William Bouchet and Susan Bouchet. William moved up to New Haven from South Charleston, South Carolina, in 1824 as the enslaved valet of a young plantation owner and student at Yale University.
Edward attended New Haven High School from 1866 to 1868 and graduated from Hopkins Grammar School in 1870 as valedictorian.
Given he grew up in the Elm City, it made sense for him to attend Yale University (known as Yale College at the time). However, there was little chance he'd be accepted because he was Black. While there were no policies on the books at the time that stated Black students were not allowed to attend the school, it was believed that no Black student had ever attended Yale up to that point.
However, research done in the last decade revealed that it's likely maybe three Black students had attended the school before Bouchet's acceptance.
According to Yale Alumni Magazine from 2014, while Bouchet was often recorded as the first Black student to graduate from Yale, a Quaker journal from 1874 credited an earlier pioneer.
"The first colored graduate of the Academical Department of Yale was Richard Henry Green in 1857," the journal said. The Alumni Magazine said that at least two other newspapers published similar items around the same time.
Green was also a New Haven native and died in 1877 at the age of 43. You can read more about Green here.
Despite Bouchet not being the first Black student to graduate from Yale, it didn't take away from his exceptional academics. He graduated from Yale in 1874 and continued at the school for the newly created Ph.D. program in physics.
When he finished his Ph.D. dissertation titled "Measuring Refractive Indices" in 1876, after just two years as a graduate student, Bouchet became one of only six people in the country to receive a doctorate in physics. He was also the first Black person to earn a Ph.D. in any field from an American university.
However, the persistence of discrimination and racism continued in the country as Bouchet tried to look for employment as a teacher following his graduation.
Eventually, he found himself relegated to teaching at segregated, all-Black high schools. But even there, Bouchet ran up against discrimination barriers. His first job after leaving Yale was at the Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia. This school was established for Black students by Quakers.
Bouchet taught there for 26 years until 1902 when the Quakers at the Institute for Colored Youth changed its college-oriented mission and turned the school into an industrial-vocational institution instead.
Bouchet then went to work several jobs over the next 14 years, either as a high school administrator or a teacher, and moved around frequently, according to Connecticut History.
He was forced to retire from his work in 1916 after he developed serious health problems and moved back to New Haven.
He died two years later at his childhood home on Bradley Street at the age of 66. Bouchet was buried in an unmarked grave in New Haven's Evergreen Cemetery.
In 1998, Yale University honored Bouchet and placed a headstone at his grave.
---
Jennifer Glatz is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jglatz@fox61.com.
Have a story idea or something on your mind you want to share? We want to hear from you! Email us at newstips@fox61.com
HERE ARE MORE WAYS TO GET FOX61 NEWS
Download the FOX61 News APP
iTunes: Click here to download
Google Play: Click here to download
Stream Live on ROKU: Add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching FOX61.
Steam Live on FIRE TV: Search ‘FOX61’ and click ‘Get’ to download.