On June 1, the Windham/Willimantic Branch of the NAACP presented Dwight Bachman, public relations officer at Eastern Connecticut State University, its President’s Award. The award ceremony took place during the NAACP’s Second Annual Freedom Fund Dinner, held at the Lakeview Restaurant in Coventry.

The award is given “to an individual whose outstanding participation and contributions provide essential support to the President and hence to the Windham\Willimantic branch’s growth and success.”

The NAACP’s mission is to secure the political, education, social and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all human beings.

“Mr. Bachman has shared his knowledge of African American history with me often, and that knowledge has assisted me with developing programs for the branch,” said NAACP President Leah Ralls in presenting the award. “As his guest at a Hartford Foundation for Public Giving event, I learned much about generating support for organizations such as the NAACP though donations. When I served as keynote speaker at the Putnam, CT, Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast this year, a video that Mr. Bachman researched, wrote and produced back in 1983 on Dr. King that aired on television stations around the world fit perfectly into my presentation.”

Lottie B. Scott, author of the book “Deep South, Deep North” and a member of the state’s Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities for more than 22 years, delivered the keynote address. “Be a champion for change. Pay back what has been given to you. My mother taught me to not talk about anybody’s child. Help improve opportunities for young people,” Scott said at the event. “Give the world the best you have, and the best will come back to you.”

Bachman was also named one of the Connecticut NAACP’ s “2018 100 Most Influential Blacks in Connecticut; received the 2018 James Ralston/David G. Carter Sr. Youth Education Innovator Award from the Prince Hall Masons of Connecticut; was honored with the 2018 Distinguished Reverend Collin Bennett/Marcus Garvey Award by St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Hartford; and was the recipient of a 2016 Quarter Century Award by the National Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.

In 2007, Eastern presented Bachman the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Distinguished Service Award, and in 2001, the Connecticut Library Association presented him its News Media Award.

Prior to being hired at Eastern in 1990, Bachman served as a “Black Scholar in Residence” at Wartburg Theological Seminary; was director of the Commission on Human Rights in Dubuque, IA; was an editor at Howard University; and served as an editor and news producer at radio and television news stations in Washington D.C., Baltimore, New York City, Stamford and West Hartford.

Bachman earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Rhetoric at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, IA, and his Master of Professional Studies in African and African American Studies at Cornell University.