Barnum Museum in Bridgeport to present talk on Ebenezer Bassett

Ebenezer Bassett (1833-1908)

BRIDGEPORT - The Barnum Museum will welcome diplomat Christopher Teal at 2 p.m. April 14. 

Teal is a senior foreign diplomat with the State Department in Washington, D.C.

He will give a public screening of his new documentary on Ebenezer Bassett, “A Diplomat of Consequence,” parts of which were filmed in Seymour and Derby with local historians.  
Bassett was the nation’s first African-American diplomat.  

He was appointed to Haiti in 1869 by President Ulysses S. Grant where he served with distinction.

Bassett was born in Litchfield, the son and grandson of Connecticut Black Governors.  

He was raised in Derby where he first attended school.  

From Derby he went on to attend Wilbraham Academy in Massachusetts and later The Connecticut State Normal School, present-day Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, where he graduated with honors in 1855.  

On March 20 Central Connecticut State University renamed a campus classroom building to Ebenezer Bassett Hall.  
A commemorative wall in the building’s foyer is part of Connecticut's Freedom Trail.

Teal is also author of the book Hero of Hispaniola: America's First Black Diplomat, Ebenezer D. Bassett.  
The Barnum Museum is located at 820 Main St.

The program is free; street parking in Bridgeport is free on Sundays. 

Photo: Courtesy of Elihu Burritt Library, CCSU.

This is a press release from The Barnum Museum.