Southern political historian Jack Bass, a celebrated Carolinas newspaperman who graduated to academia and became a widely respected author or co-author of 10 books, died Thursday afternoon at age 91 in hospice care, according to son David Bass of Raleigh, N.C.
In 2020, Bass moved from Charleston where he once taught at the College of Charleston to Raleigh with his third wife, legendary cooking personality Nathalie Dupree, to be closer to their family. Dupree died in January 2025 at age 85.
Bass, born in Columbia, S.C, was the youngest of seven children of Esther (Cohen) and Nathan Bass, immigrants from Poland and Lithuania respectively. Jack Bass was the sixth child in the family to attend the University of South Carolina, where he caught the news bug and served as chief editor for the school’s newspaper, The Gamecock.
During the 13-year newspaper career that followed, Bass was named S.C. Journalist of the Year twice by the S.C. Press Association, according to the S.C. Academy of Authors. Then, shifting to academia, Bass earned a doctorate in American studies from Emory University and taught journalism at universities including USC, S.C. State, the University of Mississippi and the College of Charleston. See a video oral history of Bass here.
Throughout his journalism and academic careers, Bass published several books on Southern politics and civil rights that got national attention, including two biographies on the life of U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. His books remain major sources today for understanding how the American South shifted in the post-war United States.
- For the full Charleston City Paper story on Bass’s life, click here.
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