Alexander Twilight

Alexander Lucius Twilight was born July 15, 1795 at Corinth in the U.S. state of Vermont to a free black family. He graduated from Middlebury College, also in Vermont, in 1823. His newly acquired baccalaureate degree made him the first African American to receive a degree from an American university. Twilight was also licensed to preach by the Presbyterian Church and served several Congregational churches. Twilight would later become principal of the Orleans County, Vermont Grammar School in Brownington, Vermont. In 1836 he built a massive four-story granite building, Athenian Hall, which would later constitute the Brownington Academy. In 1836, Twilight was elected to the Vermont House of Representatives, becoming the first African American to be elected to a public office, and to serve in a state legislature. Twilight died in 1857.

References

* Hahan, Michael T. "Alexander Twilight, Vermont's African American Pioneer." The New England Press, Inc.: 1998. ISBN 1-881535-31-2.

External links

* [http://www.twilightandreason.com/wst_page2.html Short Profiles of Alexander Twilight and Charles L. Reason at TwilightandReason.com]
* [http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/372/Alexander_L_Twilight_a_collegiate_pioneer African American Registry's Alexander Twilight Page]
* [http://www.oldstonehousemuseum.org/athenianhall.html Old Stone House Museum and Athenian Hall]