Edward Alexander Bouchet

Edward Alexander Bouchet was born in 1852 in New Haven, the youngest of four children. His mother, Susan, was a laundress. His father, William, worked as a custodian at Yale. His family was active in the Temple Street Congregational Church (today’s Dixwell Avenue UCC). Edward attended the Artisan Street School, a school for Black students, and from there went to New Haven High School, graduating in 1868. With some outside financial support, he attended the private Hopkins School, where he graduated as valedictorian.

Bouchet excelled academically at Yale. He graduated sixth in his class and earned acceptance into Phi Beta Kappa, the academic honor society. Two years later, he received his Ph.D. in physics from Yale. He was the first Black person to earn a doctorate in the United States and only the sixth person of any background to receive a Ph.D. in physics.

Bouchet faced many professional barriers because of racism and discrimination against Black people. Although he was one of a small number of Americans with a Ph.D. at that time, he was not hired by white colleges or universities. Bouchet taught science at the Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia for 26 years. In 1902, he was fired when the school decided to embrace the industrial educational philosophy promoted by Booker T. Washington. In 1905, he applied for a teaching position at Yale and was heartily recommended by his former teacher, but he was not hired. Bouchet continued to work in various roles as a teacher or administrator for the next 14 years.

Health issues pressed Bouchet to retire at age 64. He returned to New Haven, where he died two years later in 1918. In 2021, artist Kwadwo Adae completed a mural featuring Bouchet’s portrait on the corner of Henry Street and Dixwell Avenue in New Haven.

"On Measuring Refractive Indices." PhD diss., Yale University, 1876.