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The latest activity of the AHA and historians in supporting history and historical thinking.

  • AHA Members Appointed to Commission by President Biden (March 2023)

    Mar 17, 2023 - 

    AHA members Risa Goluboff (Univ. of Virginia) and Martha Jones (Johns Hopkins Univ.) have been appointed to the Permanent Committee for the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise by President Joe Biden. The committee, which is comprised of the Librarian of Congress and four additional members appointed by the president, is charged with “documenting and disseminating the history of the United States Supreme Court.”

  • AHA Members Awarded 2023 Bancroft Prizes (March 2023)

    Mar 14, 2023 - 

    Congratulations to AHA members Beverly Gage (Yale Univ.) and John Wood Sweet (Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), as well as Kelly Lytle Hernández (Univ. of California, Los Angeles), who have been named as the winners of the 2023 Bancroft Prizes. The Bancroft Prizes, awarded annually by Columbia University, are judged by a panel of distinguished historians “in terms of scope, significance, depth of research, and richness of interpretation that they present in the areas of American history and diplomacy.”

  • AHA, NCSS, and Virginia Educational Organizations Release Collaborative Strikethrough and Review of Proposed Draft Standards (March 2023)

    Mar 14, 2023 - 

    On March 13, the AHA, the National Council for the Social Studies, and four Virginia educational organizations released a Collaborative Strikethrough and Review proposing revisions to the History and Social Science Standards of Learning for Virginia Public Schools. This document suggests specific changes to improve draft standards as the Department of Education prepares for a final round of edits before anticipated adoption in April. We encourage Virginians to attend one of six public hearings and provide written comment before March 21. The AHA has developed an action alert, including a briefing memo, to help Virginians navigate the public review process.

  • AHA Letter Opposing Marymount University’s Proposed Elimination of History Major Featured in Local Media (March 2023)

    Mar 13, 2023 - 

    The AHA’s letter to Marymount University president Irma Becerra urging reconsideration of a proposal to eliminate the university’s history major, as well as several other majors, was featured in coverage by ARL Now and the Falls Church News-Press. Marymount University’s board voted to proceed with the elimination of the majors, most of which were in the humanities, on February 24.

  • Action Alert – Public Review of Virginia History and Social Science Standards of Learning

    Mar 10, 2023 - 

    The American Historical Association (AHA) has continued to monitor with concern the revisions process for proposed History and Social Science Standards of Learning for Virginia Public Schools. Now, the Virginia Board of Education (VBOE) wants to hear from members of the public in preparation for final review. The AHA encourages you to make your voice heard.

  • AHA Issues Statement on Florida Higher Education Bill (March 2023)

    Mar 06, 2023 - 

    The AHA has released a statement on Florida House Bill 999, “express[ing] horror . . . at the assumptions that lie at the heart of this bill and its blatant and frontal attack on principles of academic freedom and shared governance central to higher education in the United States.” “What has previously best been characterized as unwarranted political intervention into public education has now escalated to an attempt at a hostile takeover of a state’s system of higher education,” the AHA writes. “This is not only about Florida. It is about the heart and soul of public higher education in the United States and about the role of history, historians, and historical thinking in the lives of the next generation of Americans.” To date, 80 organizations have signed onto the statement. 

  • AHA Signs ACLS Statement Opposing Florida House Bill 999 (March 2023)

    Mar 06, 2023 - 

    The AHA has signed onto a statement from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) opposing Florida House Bill 999, “protest[ing] this proposed legislation and call[ing] on citizens to recognize the danger it poses to higher education in this country.” If HB 999 passes, the ACLS writes, “it ends academic freedom in the state’s public colleges and universities, with dire consequences for their teaching, research, and financial well-being. . . . Academic freedom means freedom of thought, not the state-mandated production of histories edited to suit one party’s agenda in the current culture wars.”

  • AHA Members Awarded Dan David Prize (March 2023)

    Mar 03, 2023 - 

    Congratulations to AHA members Adam Clulow (Univ. of Texas, Austin) and Krista Goff (Univ. of Miami) as well as the seven other historians who have been named as recipients of the 2023 Dan David Prize. The Dan David Prize “recognizes outstanding scholarship that illuminates the past and seeks to anchor public discourse in a deeper understanding of history.”

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