Richard Bassett

Richard Bassett (March 28, 1846 – February 21, 1905) was a Baptist minister and a Republican member of the Indiana House of Representatives from Howard County. He was one of four African American state legislators elected in Indiana in the 19th century. Early life and education Bassett was born in 1846 at Snow Hill, North Carolina, to free black parents. In 1848, he moved with his parents to a Quaker community in Parke County, Indiana. There his father, Zachariah Bassett, first began to preach. Both Richard and his brother Miles would follow their father into the ministry. In 1856, the Bassetts, along with the Artis and Ellis families, established a new African-American settlement in Ervin Township in Howard County. Known as the Bassett Settlement, the community grew to 11 families, and at its peak had its own school, church, and post office, as well as a general store and blacksmith shop. Bassett attended local Quaker schools.