In 1831, a coalition of Black leaders and white abolitionists proposed the nation's first African American college in New Haven, Connecticut , in an attempt to open a door to education that was largely shut in a time of slavery. Instead, the city’s freemen — white male landowners with the sole authority to vote, many with ties to Yale College — rejected the plans on a vote of 700-4. Violence erupted in following months, with attacks on Black residents, their homes and the properties of their white supporters.
Now, 193 years later, New Haven’s leaders are considering a public apology for the harm that was done when their predecessors scuttled the plans. City Alder Thomas Ficklin Jr., a Democrat, submitted a proposed resolution in August with the help of City Historian Michael Morand.
It calls for an official apology and encourages city schools and Yale to offer educational programs on the events of 1831. Officials are considering holding a second public meeting on the proposal and the full Board of Alders is expected to take it up later this fall. Ficklin, however, wasn't able to see the proposal to fruition.
He died suddenly at his home on Oct. 9 at the age of 75, several weeks after an interview with The Associated Press. “My political ancestors were involved with this,” Ficklin told the AP.
"Now we have a chance to kind of render our opinion not only on their actions, on our ancestors’ actions, but how are we going to be judged in the future.” His wife, Juli.
