First African American to graduate from an American university?

Alexander Lucius Twilight (1795-1857)

Educator, politician. Born on September 26, 1795, in Corinth, Vermont. Twilight is believed to be the first African American to graduate from an American university; he received his bachelor's degree from Middlebury College in 1823. He married Mercy Ladd Merrill three years after finishing college.

Twilight went on to become a minister and educator. He tended congregations in Vergennes and Browington, Vermont, and became the principal of the Orleans County Grammar School in Brownington, which later became known as Brownington Academy. He helped the school built a granite building named Athenian Hall, which he designed. The structure housed classrooms and served as a dormitory. The building is now known as the Old Stone House Museum.

Also a pioneer in Vermont politics, Twilight became the first African American to serve in the state's legislature in 1836. He died on June 19, 1857.

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