Dr. Jonathan Bass, Associate Professor of History, Howard College of Arts and Sciences

Dr. Bass’s book, Blessed Are the Peacemakers: Martin Luther King, Jr., Eight White Religious Leaders and the ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’ (Louisiana State University Press, 2001), was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.  He earned a B.A. and M.A. in history from UAB and a Ph.D. in history from UT, Knoxville.  In 2005, Dr. Bass and his friend, Reverend Gerald Austin of the Center for Urban Missions in downtown Birmingham, received the interracial friendship award from the Birmingham Urban League for their partnership in exposing Samford students to problems of the inner city.