BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - On this day in history, the birth of a ground-breaking Vermonter.

Alexander Twilight was born on September 23, 1795, in Corinth.

He went on to become the first black person to earn a bachelor’s degree from an American college when he graduated from Middlebury College in 1823.

Twilight is also recognized as the first black man to be elected as a state official when he was chosen to represent Brownington in the Vermont legislature in 1836.

Twilight also built a structure in Brownington as part of the first secondary school in Orleans County.

For the past hundred years, it has been known as the Old Stone House, the county’s historical museum.

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