Biography
Alexander Twilight was born to a white or "fair-skinned" mother and a biracial, Revolutionary War Veteran father on their farm in Bradford, Vermont. Due to poverty, Twilight was forced to work as an indentured servant on a farm in neighboring Corinth from the age of eight to end of the indenture at age 21. During this time he attended school, ultimately finishing two years of college-level curriculum at the Orange County Grammar School in Randolph, Vermont.
He enrolled in Middlebury College in 1821 and graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1823, the first African-American to receive a degree from any U.S. college or University. He embarked on a career of teaching in Peru, New York. While there he started studying for the ministry, and though not ordained, he received a license to preach from the Congregational Church.
He went on to teach and preach in Vergennes, Vermont, and ultimately settled in Brownington in 1829 where he was named the principal of the Orleans County Grammar School and minister of the Congregational Church.
As the only secondary school in the region, Twilight saw a need for a dormitory so students could stay at the school to study. From 1834 to 1836 he designed and built Athenian Hall (now the Old Stone House Museum) as dormitory and school building for the newly-named Brownington Academy. This lofty structure was the first granite public building in the state of Vermont.
Alexander Twilight was elected to the Vermont House of Representatives in 1836, becoming the first African-American to win election to a state legislature in the United States and the only black man to serve in this capacity until after the Civil War.
Twilight served Brownington until 1847 when an apparent falling-out with the school board of trustees forced his resignation. He taught in nearby Quebec, but without his leadership Brownington Academy ended up closing in 1852. The school asked him to come back which he did, returning as principal and pastor until a stroke forced his retirement in 1855. He died two years later and is buried at the Congregational Church in Brownington.Education
Orange Country Grammar School
BA, Middlebury College (1823)Occupation
Teacher
Minister