In 1829, Alexander Twilight was appointed to the position of principal of Orleans County Grammar School. Later called Brownington Academy, this school was a prestigious educational institute which offered schooling for both men and women. In 1834, the school became so successful that there was no more room for students to board with the townspeople. So, Alexander Twilight, suggested that they build a dormitory to house the incoming students. He asked the board of trustees for funding, but they said no. We believe that they turned down providing funds to build the dormitory because they suspected that he was African American. Many people would have given up on their dream at this point, but Alexander Twilight decided that having no funding was no problem. So, he built a four story, stone building with his own two hands and an ox. It was finished in 1836. The building would be used to house over 30 people. He named it Athenian Hall, but people later on did not care for the grand name: Athenian Hall. They instead chose to call it: The Old Stone House. We visited the museum last winter and would recommend our readers to check out their website as follows. Go check out our Photo Gallery for pictures from the Old Stone House. Thank you for reading! The Alexander Twilight Girls
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Middlebury College is a Vermont college located in Middlebury, Vermont. Middlebury is about 70 miles Northwest of Dartmouth. It was founded in 1800 by Gamaliel Painter. Middlebury became the first operating college in Vermont and it is now educating over 2,500 undergraduates. Middlebury’s claim to fame is that they graduated the first African American: Alexander Twilight.
Alexander Twilight was accepted into Middlebury in 1821 but, since Middlebury had a policy against African Americans, he had to pretend he was a white man. We believe the reason he graduated was because they thought he was white. Years later, they claimed they graduated the first black man in America, even though they probably had no idea that he was African American at the time. Let us know how you feel about Middlebury’s claim in the comments. Alexander Twilight Girls |
AuthorsGabrielle and Esme have been researching Twilight thoroughly for three years. They started off working on their Vermont History presentation and eventually ended up, more recently, presenting at Boston History Camp in Boston, Mass. Archives
December 2019
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