Harry W. Bass

Harry W. Bass (4 November 1866 – 9 June 1917) was an American lawyer and politician who became the first African American to serve in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, winning two consecutive terms in 1911 and 1913 to represent the sixth district (including primarily black seventh ward) of Philadelphia.

Life and career Bass was a native of West Chester, Pennsylvania, born on 4 November 1866.

As a law student, Bass lived in South Philadelphia and ran for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the first time in 1896, while affiliated with the People's Legislative Party, and lost. Bass contested the 1898 elections for state representative, again as a PLP candidate, and lost for a second time. As a Republican backed by Boies Penrose, He represented the sixth district of the House, which comprised the heavily African American seventh ward of Philadelphia. In 1911–1912, he was a member of a commission convened to organize celebrations of the fiftieth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, and he was credited with helping the commission secure $20,000 in funding via appropriations.

Bass died on 9 June 1917 in Philadelphia of chronic interstitial nephritis, according to his death certificate. He was buried in Chestnut Grove Cemetery north of West Chester.