Many of us Black physicists know Edward A. Bouchet as the first African American Ph.D. in the field. Historians of 19th century Black education know him as the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in any subject. And in fact, when Yale College awarded him this academic distinction in 1876, Bouchet was part of a moment that was not only transformational when viewed through the prism of race: He became one of the first 20 people to earn that degree in the United States. These first Ph.D.s went on to be professors and leaders, the forefront of a wave of change in American intellectual life.
Bouchet may have been part of that generation, but the contours of his trajectory are distinct. As a Black man in a segregated hiring market, he had few job options. As was and is the case for so many Black Americans facing discrimination, Bouchet found his home in a Black institution, where he in turn created opportunities for a new generation of Black students.
Edward Alexander Bouchet was born in September 1852 in New Haven, Connecticut, and into a country where slavery was not only legal, but foundational to the national economy.
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