John Spencer Bassett
Tarboro, Edgecombe County, North Carolina
Marker Inscription
John Spencer Bassett. Historian. Professor at Trinity College, 1894-1906. Secretary, Amer. Historical Association, 1919-1928. Born here.
Erected by North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
The Story
John Spencer Bassett was a historian who taught at Trinity College—now Duke University—from 1894 to 1906 and later served as secretary of the American Historical Association from 1919 to 1928. A scholar of the American South, he was born here in Tarboro.
Why it matters
Bassett helped professionalize the study of American history and, in his Trinity years, became a symbol of academic freedom in the South.
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