Alexander Lucius Twilight was born September 26, 1795 in Corinth, Vermont, USA to a free black family. He graduated from Middlebury College, also in Vermont, in 1823. His newly acquired baccalaureate degree made him the first African American to receive a degree from an American college. He was also licensed to preach by the Presbyterian Church and served several Congregational churches.

Twilight would later become principal of the Orleans County, Vermont Grammar School in Brownington, Vermont. In 1836 he built a massive three-story granite building, Athenian Hall, which would later constitute the Brownington Academy. In 1836, Twilight also served in the Vermont state legislature, thus also becoming the first African American to serve on a state legislature. Twilight died in 1857.