History Needs You–Show Your Support this Giving Tuesday
History is facing unprecedented challenges, from attacks on the free pursuit of knowledge to political interference in the presentation and teaching of evidence-based history to declining public investment in the humanities. At stake is more than our discipline: it’s the public’s ability to understand the past with clarity, integrity, and nuance.
We need a complete and complex understanding of the entirety of our past. And that complexity necessarily needs to and must involve people of all backgrounds.
The AHA leads the effort to defend the discipline and to promote the critical role history plays in public life. We support educators in their efforts to teach honest history, protect historians’ ability to research and publish freely, and connect rigorous, inclusive historical scholarship to the pressing questions of our time. Your gift fuels that work.
Your Impact
Your gift strengthens the discipline and supports the people who teach, write, and share history every day.
When you give to the AHA, you are investing in work that has real, measurable impact:
- Defend academic freedom. Help us intervene when historians face censorship or political pressure.
- Support educators. Work with us to strengthen the foundation of history teaching as educators navigate challenges to their professional autonomy and restrictions on what they can teach in their classrooms.
- Prepare historians. Help us equip historians to engage the public and policymakers.
- Engage the public. Support public history institutions to sustain rigorous interpretation and education amid significant political interference.
Why Give to the AHA?
“To support advocacy efforts that seek to maintain the importance of the study of history and application of critical thinking among policymakers, students, and the general public.”
– Matthew Popovich
“The AHA defends, inspires, and advocates for history and historians. It helps us sell ourselves to the world, which is absolutely key in a world that has a very, very short memory and a penchant for ignoring what it doesn't like to hear.”
– Lynn Sharp
“The AHA is the most eminent, long-standing organization representing all members of the history discipline. Any scholar who identifies as a 'historian' and not just a 'historian of X' ought to be a member of the AHA. If we do not support the work of the AHA, who can we expect to support us?”
– Christopher Ferguson
What We Do
In the last year alone, we’ve:
- Supported international historians and historians under threat through our longstanding partnership with Scholars at Risk and our Committee on International Historical Activities
- Supported education exchange programs and foreign scholars through statements, action alerts, and the development of advocacy guides and resources
- Filed a lawsuit in defense of the National Endowment for the Humanities
Hosted congressional briefings to educate the US Congress on the history of deportation, the federal civil service, tariffs, privacy and artificial intelligence, and other vital issues
Provided expert testimony to legislatures, advised state boards of education on the revision of academic standards, and negotiated with state-level policymakers regarding legislative language on history education and academic freedom - Issued statements and letters in support of history and the work of historians today, including statements condemning federal censorship of American history and defending the Smithsonian Institution
Defended historians’ right to academic freedom and supported historians confronting threats and harassment - Collaborated with peer associations and institutional partners to take action and amplify our collective voices
- Shared lessons learned from American Lesson Plan, which has been a vital resource for educators working to push back against attempts to legislate how and what they can teach in their history classrooms
- Supported organizations enhancing their educational programming through our administration of the Library of Congress' Teaching with Primary Sources grant program as its Mid-Atlantic/US Territories Regional Partner
- Planned our 139th annual meeting, the largest gathering of historians in the world and a critical convening ground for historians working across all regions and time periods
- Organized free conferences for educators who teach introductory history courses in Virginia and Texas to discuss shared challenges and brainstorm solutions to their most pressing professional issues
- Prepared to publish the second edition of our popular Careers for History Majors booklet, which helps students, parents, and faculty navigate potential career pathways for undergraduate history majors, and supports departments seeking to maintain or increase undergraduate enrollments
- Published volume 130 of the American Historical Review, the leading journal of the historical discipline
The AHA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. All or part of your gift may be tax deductible as a charitable contribution.
