Harper’s Weekly (May 1, 1869).
Ebenezer D. Bassett (1833-1908) was born in Connecticut, where he embarked on a career as an educator after graduating from college. While in New Haven working as a high school principal, Bassett became active in Connecticut’s colored convention movement, twice serving as convention secretary and petitioning the state to grant suffrage to black citizens. It was also in Connecticut that Bassett first met Frederick Douglass, forming a lifelong friendship.
Bassett’s career next took him to Philadelphia, where he was appointed principal of the prestigious Institute for Colored Youth in 1857. Bassett helped recruit African American soldiers for the Union, further establishing him as a leader of the black community and contributing to his election as delegate to the Syracuse convention. Bassett was elected to an important position on the business committee, which accepted and prepared resolutions for approval by the entire convention.
After the Civil War, Bassett remained active in the convention movement until Ulysses S. Grant appointed Bassett as the U.S. minister to Haiti and the Dominican Republic in 1869.