American Historical Association

As Historians Face More Political Pressure, the James Sweet Controversy Won't Die

A New Yorker reporter asks the outgoing AHA president what pushed him to write a controversial column, and other historians weigh in on what the discipline's relationship to politics should be (and whether historians themselves have the power to decide). 

AHA's "New" Standards for "Scholarship" are Too Little, Too Late for the Profession

by Donald Earl Collins

The move to recognize forms of knowledge dissemination beyond the scholarly monograph follow the establishment's failure for years to recognize the need for public engagement that has recently been taken up by journalists, novelists, and other creatives. 

The History Wars Were Front and Center at the AHA Meeting

Questions raised by a controversial op-ed by AHA President James Sweet inevitably hung over the annual meeting as scholars met amid political attacks from without and debates within the profession. 

OAH, AHA File Joint SCOTUS Brief in Case Affecting Indigenous Adoption and Family Rights

"If the court strikes down the ICWA in whole or in part, the decision could have devastating impacts on Native American families and, potentially, on federal Indian law writ large. Resuming the practice of Native child removal would cause active harm to Native families as well as jeopardize the future sovereignty of tribal governments.

The AHA Announces 2022 Prize Winners

Congratulations to this years honorees for publication, teaching, mentoring and service to the profession. 

National History Center to Merge with AHA

by James Grossman

By merging the National History Center with the AHA, both organizations hope to alleviate the burdens of cost and time associated with running separate organizations and enable the Center to diffuse historical knowledge through scholarship, writing and teaching. 

Historicizing the Legitimacy of LGBTQ History

by Marc Stein

The AHA's newsletters reveal a protracted and frequently bitter debate about the boundaries of the discipline as scholars in the early 1970s worked to establish gay and lesbian people and communities as subjects of study. 

History as Love and The Presentist Trap: Responses to James Sweet

by Malcolm Foley and Priya Satia

Two historians respond to the AHA president's essay by reflecting on the politics of historical research and of speaking publicly about the past. 

Two Cheers for Presentism

by David A. Bell

Now that the dust has settled over the AHA President's controversial essay, it's time to consider more carefully how the present informs the work of historians, and how to do "presentism" right. 

AHA Statement on Bomb Threats to HBCUs

"The AHA condemns this latest in a centuries-old series of assaults on Black Americans and on the educational institutions that are integral to a diverse, free, informed, and open society."

AHA, OAH File SCOTUS Amicus Brief in Mississippi Abortion Ban Case

This brief, based on decades of study and research by professional historians, aims to provide an accurate historical perspective as the Court considers the state of Mississippi’s challenge to a woman’s right to abortion, a right that was affirmed by the Court in Roe v. Wade.

AHA Announces 2021 Prize Winners

HNN congratulates the winners of the AHA's awards for publication, teaching, and service to the profession. 

AHA and OAH Join Coalition to Protect Integrity of History Education

by James Grossman and Beth English

"Ongoing partisan agitation around this issue will continue, provoked and sustained by a shrewdly organized and amply funded crusade that seeks to replace evidence-based history instruction with a whitewashed version of patriotism."

CRT Debate "Abstract and Uninformed," Says AHA President

by Jacqueline Jones

"CRT does not explain all of American history; rather, it provides insights into why achieving the ideals enshrined in the Founders’ declaration that “all men are created equal” has been so elusive over the centuries."

The Culture Wars Come for the American Historical Association

by Daniel J. Samet

The author contends that the American Historical Association is mischaracterizing Texas's recent legislation on history curricula, which is a needed corrective to left-wing excesses. 

AHA Issues Letter Regarding Proposed Termination of Tenured Faculty Members at Salem State University (April 2021)

The AHA urges Salem State (MA) University to reconsider an announced plan to terminate four tenured faculty positions in its history department in a public letter addressed to President John Keenan and Provost David Silva.

Townhouse Notes: The Shoulder We Cry On

by Ashley E. Bowen

In times of crisis, historians are tempted to enter into a forward-looking task of placing current grief in a narrative of progress. They cannot forget that their primary role is to make us uncomfortable with what we think we know about the past. 

Racist Histories and the AHA

by Sarah Jones Weicksel and James Grossman

"By undertaking this project, the AHA seeks to understand and document the complexity of its role in the evolution and persistence of American racism in order for the organization, and for historians, to use our knowledge and professional resources to chart pathways to a more just and equitable future."

One For The History Books: The Historical Discipline Will Prevail Over Current Challenges

by Jacqueline Jones

Historians, their departments, and their institutions will have to respond creatively to the challenges posed by COVID, but perhaps the profession and the place of history in American culture can emerge stronger than ever. 

Trump's Latest Executive Order is a Head Scratcher to Historians

by Jim Grossman

"There is no shortage of contentious publications and conversations among professional historians about concepts like critical race theory or arguments like those advanced in the 1619 Project. But neither constitutes “child abuse,” which is a serious crime."