AHA

Rearranging Deck Chairs at AHA?

by Jacob Bruggeman

"If professional history is history, it isn’t due to academic politics — it’s because of the sharp contraction and possible collapse of the job market." What are the profession's ostensible leaders going to do about it? 

AHA: Time to Move from the Monograph to Recognize More Public Kinds of Scholarly Work

As historians and humanists seek to demonstrate the public value of their knowledge, it doesn't make sense to make public-facing history work a career-killer, according to the AHA. 

AHA Project to Determine What Happens in History Classrooms

Hoping both to fight media panics over "indoctrination" and guide policymakers and teachers toward better practices, the AHA will undertake a two-year project to investigate state curriculum decisions and classroom activities. 

What the AHA President Got Wrong—and Right

by Jonathan Wilson

"History is political because human experience is political. Historians have power, or at least we want them to. We require that secondary-school and university students study history because we hope it will shape their behavior as citizens."

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.

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. 

Was the AHA President's Essay Just a Tempest in a Teapot?

Did James Sweet's essay unleash a storm of recrimination and anger? Sure. But maybe also useful scholarly self-reflection? 

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. 

A Public Debate on Presentism is Joined by Far-Right Trolls: A Big Week for the AHA

by Colleen Flaherty

IHE Reporter Colleen Flaherty gives a rundown of the recent debate over AHA President James Sweet's essay on past and present in the profession, and its growth into a genuine online event – in case you missed it.

AHA Webinar: History Behind the Headlines in Ukraine (March 4)

David Engerman moderates a panel discussion of the histories of Russia and Ukraine, the impact of the end of the Cold War on relations between the nations, and how to understand the invasion in context. Of particular interest to students and teachers. 

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.

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."

AHA Issues Statement on Threats to Historical Integrity in Texas (July 2021)

"The American Historical Association views with alarm several provisions in Texas House Bill 3979 (An Act Relating to the Social Studies Curriculum in Public Schools), recently signed into law by Governor Abbott."

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. 

Webinar: Teaching Assistants in the Time of COVID

Join an AHA sponsored webinar on the challenges facing graduate teaching assistants in remote, hybrid, and in-person classes during COVID. October 22, 2:00 PM Eastern

AHA Urges Retraction of Executive Order Prohibiting the Inclusion of “Divisive Concepts” in Employee Training Sessions

In response to the president’s recent executive order prohibiting the inclusion of “divisive concepts” in employee training sessions, the AHA has issued a statement urging the retraction of the order because it is “neither necessary nor useful.”

Trump is Afraid of Honest History

by James Grossman

Trump's proposal for a "1776 Commission" suggests that history teachers should be cheerleaders, reducing the nation’s complex past to a simplistic and inaccurate narrative of unique virtue and perpetual progress.

AHA Statement on the Recent "White House Conference on American History”

The AHA only reluctantly gives air to such distraction; we are not interested in inflating a brouhaha that is a mere sideshow to the many perils facing our nation at this moment. 

2021 ANNUAL MEETING CANCELED

The American Historical Association has canceled its annual meeting in January 2021; the organization will work to develop virtual programming in the next several months. 

Remote Teaching Wiki

Here, historians who have resources useful for remote teaching can share them, and those racing to adapt courses can search for materials instead of working from scratch.