A forgotten hero. A man who stood alone and was willing to risk everything to do the right thing.
Watch A Diplomat of Consequence by clicking above
About the director:
Christopher Teal is a diplomat, writer, filmmaker, and educator. He is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the U.S. State Department and currently is the Consul General at the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana, Mexico. Previously he was the Public Diplomacy Fellow at the George Washington University, teaching undergraduate classes on diplomacy and foreign policy. He also served as an office director in the State Department’s Bureau of Global Talent Management, in charge of global diplomatic assignments. In Washington he also taught at the Inter-American Defense College at Fort McNair. His graduate classes for senior level Latin American officials focused on diplomacy, human rights, military/civilian relations, and defense/security policy.
To make the documentary, Chris took a sabbatical fellowship at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. There, he directed, wrote, and produced a documentary on the first African-American diplomat, Ebenezer D. Bassett. The film, A Diplomat of Consequence, tells the story of this groundbreaking diplomat and pioneer on international human rights and examines the legacy of racial diversity today, 150 years after his appointment.
His prior diplomatic assignments include: Consul General at the U.S. Consulate in Nogales, Mexico, Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka; Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Guadalajara, Mexico; Cultural Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Peru; and Consular and Press Officer at the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic. In Washington D.C. he also worked at the State Department’s Foreign Press Center and in the European Bureau.