author
John Spencer Bassett
1867–1928
An American historian remembered both for his writing on the South and for a public stand that turned into an early test of academic freedom. His life links scholarship, controversy, and a changing view of race in the post–Civil War United States.
1 Audiobook
The Lost Fruits of Waterloo
by John Spencer Bassett
About the author
Born in Tarboro, North Carolina, in 1867, John Spencer Bassett studied at Trinity College and later earned his doctorate at Johns Hopkins. He went on to teach history at Trinity College—now Duke University—and became one of the notable historians of the American South.
Bassett founded South Atlantic Quarterly and wrote widely on American history, including studies of Andrew Jackson and the early United States. He also taught at Smith College and served the American Historical Association in a leading administrative role during the 1920s.
He is especially remembered for the 1903 "Bassett Affair," after he praised Booker T. Washington and criticized racism among white Southern leaders. The backlash was intense, but the controversy helped make him a lasting symbol of academic freedom as well as a serious scholar of Southern history.