|
John Hanson was elected the 1st President of Congress under the Articles of Confederation. Under his leadership, the Great Seal of the United States was commissioned and used by every president thereafter. 
|
|
|
 |
|
Darius Coulibaly is the founder, President and CEO of Empowering the Poor. EPT's mission is to empower poor communities to self-reliance with dignity in the United States and sub-Saharan Africa through culturally tailored and integrated educational, healthcare, and microfinance programs.
|
|
|
|
MEMBER:
|
 |
| |
|
| EBENEZER DON CARLOS BASSETT |
Bassett 1855 |
Born in Litchfield, Connecticut on October 16, 1833, Bassett was the first African American diplomat to serve as US Ambassador to the "Black Republic" Haiti (1860-1877) a full 20 years before Frederick Douglass received his appointment.
Bassett's father escaped slavery and his mother was a Pequot Indian. He became the first black student to integrate the Connecticut Normal School in 1853, almost a century before Brown v Board of Education held that segregation in public schools was illegal.
|
Bassett became one of the city’s leading voices for the liberation of millions of black slaves. In spite of the controversy, Ebenezer Bassett opened the doors of ICY to become a locale in the city for recruiting black soldiers. He hastened to invite in many of the national civil rights leaders that now had become his close contacts. 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, presenting a resolution and 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 f or 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...."
As Ambassador to Haiti, Bassett is credited with saving the life of a man who would later become the elected president of Haiti: General Pierre Theoma Boisrond Canal (shown right)
 Bassett was a distinguished teacher in Connecticut before becoming principal of the Philadelphia Institute for Colored Youth (ICY), which later became Cheyney University, the oldest of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Cheyney was founded in 1837 by Richard Humphreys, from on the British Virgin Island of Tortola. Bassett's successor as principal of Cheyney was Fanny Jackson Coppin, the first African American woman to head a school. Bassett served as the University's second president from (1858-1869). He died December 9, 1908 in Brooklyn, NY.
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
