The complex history of Alexander Twilight, nation’s first African American to earn a bachelor’s degreePosted in Articles, Biography, Campus Life, Media Archive, Passing, United States on 2021-02-11 00:04Z by Steven |
USA Today
2021-02-08
Marina Affo, Reporter
Delaware News Journal, New Castle, Delaware
Though Twilight is lauded today as an African American scholar, preacher and educator, for much of his life he was marked as white on census records.
Tucked away on Franklin Street at Vermont’s Middlebury College sits a modest, red-bricked building bearing the name of Twilight Hall.
It pays homage to the first student of African descent who graduated from Middlebury in 1823. Alexander Twilight was also the first Black person to obtain a bachelor’s degree across America – a piece of history Middlebury is proud to represent.
At Northern Vermont University, there is Alexander Twilight Theater and in Boston, there is Alexander Twilight Academy, which offers year-round academic programming for middle school students from under-resourced backgrounds to prepare them for high school and college.
Though not widely know, Twilight is celebrated as an accomplished African American man whose achievements paved the way for others like him.
But consider this: Though Twilight is lauded today as an African American scholar, preacher and educator, for much of his life he was marked as white on census records…
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