Buffalo State Assistant Professor of Philosophy John R. Torrey discussed the life of Charles Augustus Thompson, the first Black graduate of Buffalo State, as part of a 7Life feature segment on WKBW-TV 7 on February 6 titled “The Remarkable Legacy of Charles Augustus Thompson: Buffalo State’s Trailblazing First African American Graduate.”
“He did everything ... literally everything,” Torrey told WKBW reporter Mercedes E. Wilson. “He’s a landmark beginning for what Black excellence looks like at Buffalo State.”
Thompson graduated from Buffalo State—then known as the Buffalo Normal School—in 1880 before embarking on a wide-ranging career that included positions throughout the country as a teacher, principal, chiropractor, ordained minister, and clerk with the U.S. Treasury Department.
