Ebenezer Bassett

Born in Derby, Connecticut, Ebenezer D. Bassett was from a community that had a strong tradition of owning their own property, running their own businesses, and playing important leadership roles. Among this community, the Bassetts stood out as astute and prominent. Bassett's father Eben Tobias, as well as his grandfather Tobiah, had the distinction of being elected "Black Governor" in Connecticut, an unofficial honorific among the black community.

Both Bassett's parents ensured that their son would receive the best education possible. In a step rare for any students of the mid-19th century, Bassett attended college in his home state. In 1853 he was the first black student to attend the Connecticut Normal School (now Central Connecticut State University). After graduation Bassett taught school in New Haven, where he met and became friends with the abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

1863 Broadside listing Bassett as a speaker calling men of color to arms.

Soon Bassett was offered the chance to teach at a progressive new all-Black high school in Philadelphia. At the time, he was teaching at the Institute for Colored Youth (ICY). It later became Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, the earliest college dedicated to educating Black youth in the country. There he focused on Latin, Greek, mathematics and science, becoming principal after one year. Among his students was John H. Smythe, who would also become a diplomat, Smythe to Liberia.[2] But Pennsylvania, like the rest of the country, was soon dragged into the American Civil War.

Ebenezer Bassett also became one of Philadelphia's leading voices for abolition of slavery and emancipation of the nearly four million enslaved Blacks. Bassett used ICY as a base to recruit Blacks to serve in the Union Army. He hastened to invite many of the national civil rights leaders who had become colleagues. Just days after the Battle of Gettysburg, Bassett and other Black leaders organized a recruiting drive for Black soldiers. Bassett had the honor of being the second speaker of the night, making his speech immediately preceding Frederick Douglass.

Men of Color, to Arms! Now or Never! This is our golden moment. The Government of the United States calls for every able-bodied colored man to enter the army for the three years' service, and join in fighting the battles of liberty and the Union. A new era is open to us. For generations we have suffered under the horrors of slavery, outrage, and wrong; our manhood has been denied, our citizenship blotted out, our souls seared and burned, our spirits cowed and crushed, and the hopes of the future of our race involved in doubts and darkness. But how the whole aspect of our relations to the white race is changed! Now, therefore, is our most precious moment. Let us rush to arms! Fail now, and our race is doomed on this soil of our birth.

Basset was highly respected within the academic communities of the North. He attended educational meetings and advised abolitionists on matters of education. In New Haven Connecticut August 1865, a meeting was held by The American Institute to address the issue of freedman and education. Speeches were made by prominent members of the community. Benjamin B. Smith Bishop of Kentucky, John Celivergos Zachos educational theorist, Lyman Abbott Author, Thomas Anthony Thacher Yale College administrator, Rev. M.E. Strieby D.D. secretary American Missionary Association of New York. Ebenezer Basset attended the meeting and urged the need for more African American educators in the freed states, he felt freedman would have more confidence in their teachers.[3][4]

His remaining years as an educator and activist would cement his position in the abolitionist community. When Ulysses S Grant was elected to the presidency, he looked for Black leaders such as Bassett to fill important political positions. Douglass recommended Bassett to political allies in the White House.

In nominating Bassett to become Minister Resident to Haiti (the title Ambassador would not be used by the U.S. until 1893), Grant appointed him as one of the highest-ranking blacks in the U.S. government. Bassett's accreditation to the "Black Republic" was no accident either. Though Haiti had gained its independence from France in 1804, it was not officially recognized by the United States until 1862. Southern resistance to a former colony governed by ex-slaves becoming a "nation" had prevented the United States from recognizing the country. With the Union victory in the Civil War, the US government wanted to improve bilateral relations, and believed the appointment of Bassett was a significant step, not only for his skills but for the symbolism of his appointment.

Upon arrival in Port-au-Prince, however, Bassett found that Haiti was torn by civil war. Although with no international experience, as a representative of the US, the Minister Resident was one of the most powerful figures in the country. Bassett soon realized that much of diplomacy involved intangibles. Soon after his arrival, he wrote to Frederick Douglass that his duties were "not so onerous as delicate. Common sense and some little knowledge of law…will carry me through."

Bassett oversaw cases of citizen commercial claims, diplomatic immunity for consular and commercial agents, and aid to citizens affected by hurricanes, fires and numerous tropical diseases.

When he returned to the United States, he spent an additional ten years as the Consul General for Haiti in New York City. Prior to his death in Brooklyn, New York, he lived in Philadelphia, where his daughter Charlotte taught at the Institute for Colored Youth. He is buried, with family members, at the Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut.

Unfortunately, unlike his peers who broke the color barrier in other professional fields, Ebenezer Bassett was soon forgotten with the passing of time.

Ebenezer D. Bassett was a role model not simply for his symbolic importance as the first African American diplomat. His concern for human rights, his heroism, and courage in the face of threats from Haitians as well as his own capital place him in the annals of great American diplomats. Most importantly, Bassett’s work as a politically appointed diplomat forever altered U.S. foreign policy. For the first time, a nation founded on the principle that “all men are created equal” would have as its representative abroad someone who had previously been less than equal under the law. This movement toward equality and democratization of foreign policy would neither be quick, nor perfect. However it proved to be a force impossible to turn back, and carried implications for both domestic and international relations in the years ahead, including the wider acceptance of blacks in U.S. foreign policy.[6]

• Teal, Christopher. Hero of Hispaniola - America's First Black Diplomat, Ebenezer D. Bassett, Westport, Conn: Praeger Publishers, 2008
• School Records for Ebenezer D. Bassett, Central Connecticut State University Library, Special Collections.
• "Addresses of the Hon. W. D. Kelley, Miss Anna E. Dickinson, and Mr. Frederick Douglass, at a mass meeting, held at National Hall, Philadelphia, July 6, 1863, for the promotion of colored enlistments." Philadelphia, PA, 1863, African American Pamphlet Collection (Library of Congress).
• Bassett to Douglass, July 3, 1869, Series: General Correspondence 1869, The Frederick Douglass Papers, Library of Congress.
• Hayti, Bassett to Fish, May 8, 1875, M 82, roll 7, Department of State Despatches, National Archives.
• Hayti, Bassett to Fish, May 19, 1875, M 82, roll 8, Department of State Despatches, National Archives.
• Hayti, Bassett to Fish, May 8, 1875, M 82, roll 8, Department of State Despatches, National Archives.
• Hayti, Bassett to Fish, June 8, 1875, M 82, roll 8, Department of State Despatches, National Archives.
• Hayti and Santo Domingo, Fish to Bassett, September 7, 1875, File 77, roll 96, Diplomatic Instruction of the Department of State, National Archives.
• Hayti, Bassett to Fish, October 12, 1875, M 82, roll 8, Department of State Despatches, National Archives.
• Hayti, Bassett to Fish, October 5, 1875, M 82, roll 8, Department of State Despatches, National Archives.
• Hayti, Evarts to Bassett, October 5, 1877, File 77, roll 96, Diplomatic Instruction of the Department of State, National Archives.
• Jackson-Coppin, Fanny. Reminiscences of School Life, and Hints on Teaching, Philadelphia, Pa., L. J. Coppin, 1913, Page 172.

• Teal, Christopher. Hero of Hispaniola – America's First Black Diplomat, Ebenezer D. Bassett, Westport, Conn: Praeger Publishers, 2008