John Spencer Bassett

John Spencer Bassett (September 10, 1867 – January 27, 1928) was an American historian. He was a professor at Trinity College (today Duke University), and is best known today for the "Bassett Affair" in 1903 when he publicly criticized racism among Southern elites, and called Booker T. Washington, "all in all the greatest man, save General Lee, born in the South in 100 years." Despite widespread outrage, the college trustees refused to accept Bassett's resignation by a vote of 18 to 7. After Trinity, he became a professor of history at Smith College in Massachusetts. and was the executive director of the American Historical Association for many years.

Early life and education

Bassett was born September 10, 1867, in Tarboro, North Carolina. He was the second of seven children of Richard Baxter Bassett (son of Richard and Caroline Spencer Bassett) who was born September 20, 1832, in Williamsburg, Virginia, and died March 25, 1902, in Goldsboro, North Carolina; and Mary Jane Wilson (daughter of John Wilson and Susannah Dunn of Maine), born November 7, 1845, in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, and died September 1, 1903, in Durham, North Carolina. Both of his parents are buried in Willow Dale Cemetery in Goldsboro, Wayne County, North Carolina.

He entered Trinity College (now Duke University) in 1886, as a junior, graduating with an A.B. in history. In 1894 he earned a Ph.D. in history from Johns Hopkins University, under the direction of Herbert Baxter Adams. As one of the first PhD's trained at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, he was introduced to a new, research-based higher education.