AHA Advocacy

• Guiding Principles on Taking a Public Stance (June 2017)

  The Council of the American Historical Association issues a statement on when it has the right to take public stands in defense, most of which has to do with the rights and careers of individuals, considered as historians. (Created 2007; Updated 2017)

• Policies and Procedures for Considering Amicus Brief Requests (January 2020)

  The AHA may consider requests for endorsing amicus briefs that coincide with the AHA's Guiding Principles for Taking a Public Stance. Such requests may be submitted by members of the Association, litigants, or other scholarly associations.

• AHA Sends Letter to Alabama Senate Opposing “Divisive Concepts” Bill (May 2023)

  The AHA has sent a letter to the Alabama Senate opposing Senate Bill 247, which would “make it virtually impossible for history educators to help students thoughtfully consider the continuing impacts of slavery and racism in American history.” By requiring public schools, colleges, and universities to teach that slavery and racism are solely “deviations from, betrayals of, and failures to live up to the founding principles of the United States,” SB 247 “would therefore prohibit teachers from asking students to consider a diverse set of primary sources and wrestle with one of the central academic issues in historical scholarship for more than 50 years: the historical relationship between slavery and freedom. . . . If passed, this bill would result in ignorance of basic facts about American history and undermine the education of Alabama’s students, including their ability to perform effectively in advanced coursework, whether in high school or college.”

• AHA Releases Statement Opposing Exclusion of LGBTQ+ History in Florida (May 2023)

  The AHA has released a statement condemning the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE)’s recent ruling banning educators from “provid[ing] classroom instruction to students in grades 4 through 12 on sexual orientation or gender identity unless such instruction is . . . expressly required by state academic standards.” “This erasure flattens the story of America’s long Civil Rights Movement… [and] bars students from examining cultures, religions, and societies—including Indigenous nations within Florida—that have embraced traditions of gender fluidity and homosexuality as meaningful categories of social identity and organization,” the AHA wrote. “We ask that the FLDOE reconsider its vague and destructive policy of censorship, and instead encourage the teaching of accurate and inclusive histories of the United States and the world.” To date, 49 organizations have signed on to the statement.

• AHA Signs On to CIE Letter Urging Title VI Funding for FY 2024 (May 2023)

  The AHA signed on to letters from the Coalition for International Education asking leaders in the US Senate and House of Representatives to approve “robust funding” for HEA-Title VI, International Education, and Fulbright-Hays programs. With this funding, the letter states, “Students from all racial and socio-economic backgrounds would have more opportunities to obtain the international experience and skills in growing demand across a wide range of professional and technical fields impacting our global engagement, security and competitiveness.”

• AHA Submits Testimony Opposing Ohio Learning Standards Legislation (May 2023)

  The AHA has submitted testimony to the Ohio House Primary and Secondary Education Committee expressing “grave concern” about House Bill 103, which would create a new, politically appointed task force to produce state social studies standards. The legislation, the AHA wrote, “would create an entirely new bureaucratic apparatus as a strategy for overruling an open, democratic, and professional process.” Additionally, HB 103 singles out the American Birthright model standards, which emphasize “content in place of critical thinking … focus[ing] narrowly on lessons about how students should feel about the United States,” as the basis for “a radical overhaul of history and social studies education in Ohio.

• AHA Sends Letter to North Carolina House of Representatives Opposing Bill to Eliminate Tenure (May 2023)

  The AHA has sent a letter to members of the North Carolina House of Representatives: the Education - Community Colleges Committee, and the Education - Universities Committee. The letter opposes HB 715, which would eliminate tenure for new hires at state universities beginning in July 2024. This, the AHA wrote, is “a short-sighted and ill-conceived policy that would significantly undercut what has been accomplished over decades by the thousands of individuals responsible for building a university system that ranks among the best in the world. . . . . Tenure helps to protect university classrooms and laboratories as spaces where learning is advanced and new knowledge is created, rather than any given political platform promoted.”

• AHA Sends Letter to Florida Senate Opposing Restrictive Education Bill (May 2023)

  The AHA has sent a letter to the Florida Senate registering “strong objection” to SB 266, legislation which “proposes to allow the study of the past only through an exceedingly narrow and tendentious frame.” As an amended version of HB 999, about which the AHA “expressed horror” in March, “the new provisions would serve only to restrict the extent to which history faculty are allowed to introduce Florida students to non-Western civilizations. . . . [T]he bill’s repeated emphasis on teaching only a thin slice of history to all students in required courses would hobble students and deprive them of the chance to become global leaders.”

• AHA Sends Letter to SFSU President Regarding “Investigation” of History Professor (April 2023)

  The AHA has sent a letter to San Francisco State University president Lynn Mahoney expressing “deep concern” regarding the university’s “investigation” of Professor Maziar Behrooz for showing a drawing of the prophet Muhammad in his course on the history of the Islamic world between 500 and 1700. “Sanctioning Professor Behrooz for showing an image relevant to the course on grounds that it offended a student would constitute a serious breach of the professor’s academic freedom,” the AHA wrote. “Any attempts to ban the teaching of primary sources on the grounds that they offend religious sensibilities would mean that SFSU would be taking a position on a theological matter—one that is well beyond the purview of institutions of higher education.”

• AHA Sends Letter to Texas House of Representatives Opposing Legislation to Eliminate Tenure (April 2023)

  The AHA has sent a letter to the members of the Texas House of Representatives opposing SB 18, which would eliminate tenure for new hires at public institutions in the state beginning in 2024. “Tenure helps to protect university classrooms and laboratories as spaces where learning is advanced and new knowledge is created, rather than any given political platform promoted,” the AHA wrote. “Were Texas to eliminate ‘tenure-track’ positions… any public university in Texas would immediately become an employer of last choice among scholars who desire an environment amenable to high-quality teaching and research.”

• AHA Sends Letter Opposing Proposed South Dakota Social Studies Standards (April 2023)

  The AHA has sent a letter to the South Dakota Board of Education Standards registering strong concern that the social studies standards draft on the agenda for the Board of Education Standards’ April 17 meeting fails to satisfy the AHA’s Criteria for Standards in History/Social Studies/Social Sciences. “The document’s numerous flaws can be traced to a process that was rushed, secretive, and driven by political motives at the expense of the educational needs of South Dakota students,” the AHA wrote. “The AHA joins a clear majority of South Dakotans in its assessment of this unabashed attempt to interfere in K–12 social studies education.”

• AHA Sends Letter to Ohio Senate Opposing Higher Education Bill (April 2023)

  The AHA has sent a letter to members of the Ohio Senate registering “strong objection” to Ohio Senate Bill 83, which would “undermine the integrity of education in Ohio’s public universities.” The level of state oversight described in the bill, the AHA wrote, “smacks less of guaranteeing the ideological diversity cited in the legislation than government surveillance more closely resembling the Soviet Union or Communist China than a public university system in the United States. . . . If passed, SB 83 would undermine the quality of public higher education in Ohio by preventing qualified instructors from teaching honest and accurate history.”

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

  The AHA has signed on to 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 Statement Opposing Florida House Bill 999 (March 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, 84 organizations have signed onto the statement.

• AHA Letter Expressing Concern for US Citizen and History Teacher Imprisoned in Russia (March 2023)

  The AHA has sent a letter to US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken expressing "grave concern" for Marc Fogel, a US citizen and history teacher currently imprisoned in Russia, and urging that he be designated as "wrongfully detained" under the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act. "We respectfully urge the reclassification of Mr. Fogel and the respect of his civil and legal rights," the AHA wrote. "We ask for immediate attention to this matter to ensure Mr. Fogel’s health and well-being."

• AHA Sends Letter to Marymount University Opposing Proposed Elimination of History Major (February 2023)

  The AHA has sent a letter to Marymount University president Irma Becerra opposing the “short-sighted decision to propose to Marymount University’s governing board the elimination of history and other humanities majors” at the university. “We urge Marymount University to reconsider this decision, which undermines the university’s commitment to ‘intellectual curiosity, service to others, and a global perspective’,” the AHA wrote.

• AHA Signs On to ACLS Statement in Support of Academic Freedom and New College of Florida (February 2023)

  The AHA has signed on to a statement from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) “in support of ex-President [Dr. Patricia] Okker, the New College community, and faculty and students at institutions of higher education around the country” following Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s politically motivated “overhaul” of New College of Florida. “Their attacks threaten public understanding of our nation’s history and culture, and they undermine key principles of academic freedom and faculty governance,” the ACLS writes.

• AHA Manager of Teaching and Learning Testifies before Virginia Board of Education (February 2023)

  On February 2, Brendan Gillis, manager of teaching and learning at the AHA, testified before the Virginia Board of Education's hearing on the history and social studies standards revisions process. He spoke in support of the collaborative Combined History and Social Science Standards for Virginia developed by the AHA, the Virginia Social Studies Leaders Consortium, and the Virginia Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Brendan reported on the AHA's involvement in Perspectives on History, "The Uncertain Future of Social Studies in Virginia." The AHA has also shared action alerts with VA members encouraging testimony and submitted comments on the draft standards.

• AHA Sends Letter to US Secretary of State Urging Assistance with Safe Return of Pierre Buteau (January 2023)

  The AHA has sent a letter to US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken regarding the January 24 abduction of Professor Pierre Buteau, president of the Société Haïtienne d’Histoire, de Géographie et de Géologie. “We recognize that the crisis of domestic insecurity in Haiti goes well beyond the fate of a single individual,” the AHA writes. “Understanding Haiti’s history is an essential element of any viable long-term response to this crisis, and Professor Buteau has devoted his professional life to bringing such understanding to bear on the challenge of re-founding a democratic state in his native land. On behalf of the American historical community, we appeal to you to use your good offices at this difficult time in Haiti’s history to do whatever is possible to help secure the safe release of Professor Buteau.”

• AHA Sends Letters Opposing Proposed Elimination of History Major at Marymount University (January 2023)

  The AHA has sent letters to Marymount University president Irma Becerra, provost Hesham El-Rewini, Faculty Council president Sarah Ficke, and Board of Trustees chair Edward Bersoff opposing the proposed elimination of the history major at the university. “The AHA has seen this approach to prioritization and restructuring before, and the results have been detrimental to students. . . . Overwhelming evidence shows that employers seek the kind of skills a history degree can provide,” the AHA wrote. “This elimination is an especially wrongheaded shift at a time when civic leaders from all corners of the political landscape have lamented the lack of historical knowledge of American citizens. Offering a history major is standard at comprehensive universities, and the elimination of the history major would place Marymount far outside the mainstream of its peer institutions.”

• AHA Signs On to American Anthropological Association Letter Opposing Appointees to New College of Florida Governing Board (January 2023)

  The AHA has signed onto a letter from the American Anthropological Association opposing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s appointment of six new members to the New College of Florida governing board. “The brazen aspiration of transforming a nationally ranked public honors college into a college along the lines of the private evangelical Christian Hillsdale College is especially alarming and appears to be nothing more than an orchestrated attack on academic integrity.”

• AHA Signs On to CIE Letter Urging Title VI Funding for 2023 (January 2023)

  The AHA signed on to a letter from the Coalition for International Education asking leaders in the US Senate and House of Representatives for “robust funding for HEA-Title VI, International Education, and Fulbright-Hays programs.” In addition to “strengthen[ing] the key Title VI foundational programs that address the nation’s critical and expanding needs for deep expertise in foreign languages, world regions and international business,” the letter states, this funding “will incentivize research and innovation in U.S. international education capacity, organization and delivery to meet 21st century challenges, as well as expand international and foreign language education to traditionally underserved students and institutions.”

• AHA Collaborates on Proposed Virginia History and Social Science Draft Standards (December 2022)

  The American Historical Association, the Virginia Social Studies Leaders Consortium, and the Virginia Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development “have collaborated to share their collective knowledge, experience, and expertise” to draft proposed history and social science standards for K–12 schools.

• AHA Sends Letter to Virginia Board of Education Urging Adoption of Proposed History Standards (October 2022)

  The American Historical Association has sent a letter to the Virginia Board of Education urging the board to proceed with adoption of the draft standards of learning for history and social science.

• AHA Supports Nomination of Colleen Shogan as Archivist of the United States (September 2022)

  The AHA has sent a letter to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs stating that it “enthusiastically supports” the nomination of Colleen Shogan as the 11th Archivist of the United States. Dr. Shogan “has worked effectively and productively with our members in such important settings as the Library of Congress, the White House Historical Society, and the America250 Commission,” the AHA wrote. “She has been especially effective as a collaborator across disciplines, drawing on her political science background to complement the work of archivists, librarians, and historians.”

• AHA Sends Letter to South Dakota Board of Education Opposing Social Studies Standards Revision Process (September 2022)

  The AHA has sent a letter to the South Dakota Board of Education opposing its social studies standards revision process.

• AHA Signs Amicus Curiae Brief in Haaland v. Brackeen (August 2022)

  The AHA has co-sponsored, along with the Organization of American Historians, an amicus curiae brief in the Supreme Court case Haaland v. Brackeen. This brief, based on decades of study and research by professional historians, aims to provide an accurate historical perspective as the Court considers the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act.

• AHA Letter to Virginia Governor Regarding Board of Historic Resources Appointments and Confederate Monuments (August 2022)

  The American Historical Association has sent a letter to Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin affirming the “importance of input from qualified historians” in deliberations about monuments in public spaces. “Your appointments to the Board of Historic Resources and other historical institutions fall within that reference to professional qualifications and democratic decision-making,” the AHA wrote. “A productive conversation requires that all participants act in good faith, with an informed understanding of scholarship and a careful and nuanced appreciation of the historical context.” The letter included a copy of the AHA’s Statement on Confederate Monuments, which “urge[s] communities faced with decisions about monuments to draw on the expertise of historians both for understanding the facts and chronology underlying such monuments and for deriving interpretive conclusions based on evidence.”

• History, the Supreme Court, and Dobbs v. Jackson: Joint Statement from the AHA and the OAH (July 2022)

  The American Historical Association and the Organization of American Historians have jointly issued a statement expressing dismay that the US Supreme Court “declined to take seriously the historical claims of our [amicus curiae] brief” in its Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision. “Instead, the court adopted a flawed interpretation of abortion criminalization that has been pressed by anti-abortion advocates for more than thirty years. … These misrepresentations are now enshrined in a text that becomes authoritative for legal reference and citation in the future. The court’s decision erodes fundamental rights and has the potential to exacerbate historic injustices and deepen inequalities in our country.” To date, 30 organizations have signed onto the statement.

• AHA Endorses LGBTQI+ Data Inclusion Act (June 2022)

  The AHA has formally endorsed the LGBTQI+ Data Inclusion Act, a bill that “ensures that lawmakers and federal agencies have the comprehensive data they need to advance policies that better serve LGBTQI+ people.” “Full equality and sound policy can only be achieved when we count all members of our community,” said Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-03), who introduced the legislation. “Lawmakers and agencies are one step closer to finally having comprehensive data to craft better policies to remedy and address the disparities faced by LGBTQI+ individuals—particularly people of color—to ensure their needs are met.” The bill passed the US House of Representatives on June 23.

• AHA Signs On to ASEH Letter Opposing Closure of EPA Digital Archive (June 2022)

  The AHA has signed on to a letter from the American Society for Environmental History opposing the Environmental Protection Agency’s plans to sunset its online archive in July 2022. In addition to being “immensely useful to environmental historians,” ASEH writes, “[t]he site has provided resources for others working in ecology, biology, toxicology, and other environmental sciences as well as geography, law, sociology, political science, and public health. … Not least among those who have relied on the EPA’s online archive are those working with and living in more marginalized or environmental justice communities, a stated priority of current EPA leadership.”

• AHA Signs On to Letter Advocating for Title VI Funding (May 2022)

  The AHA has signed on to a letter to Congress from the Coalition for International Education urging stronger funding for the US Department of Education’s International and Foreign Language Education programs, including HEA-Title IV programs and Fulbright-Hays programs. “Many more programs would be made available to address the nation’s critical needs for advanced fluency in foreign languages, world regions and international business,” the letter states. “Students from all racial and socio-economic backgrounds would have more opportunities to obtain the international experience and skills in growing demand across a wide range of professional and technical fields impacting our global engagement, security and competitiveness.”

• AHA Signs On to Joint Statement of Opposition to Banning Scholars Based on Citizenship (March 2022)

  The American Historical Association has signed onto a joint statement from the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, the British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies, and the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages “strongly oppos[ing] the vilification and exclusion of our Russian and Belarusian students and colleagues.” “Banning Russians and Belarusians based solely on their citizenship goes against our fundamental principles of scholarship, open communication, and dialogue,” says the statement. “Such sanctions have the potential to harm those living in authoritarian regimes who are opposed to the war. We encourage all members of our community who stand against the war in Ukraine to come together and support our students and colleagues.”

• AHA Sends Letter to Kansas Legislature Opposing Legislation Restricting History Education (March 2022)

  The AHA has sent a letter to the Kansas Senate Committee on Education opposing HB 515, which would restrict history education.

• AHA Sends Letters to South Carolina Legislature Opposing Legislation Restricting History Education (March 2022)

  The AHA has sent letters to the South Carolina House Education and Public Works Committee and Senate Education Committee opposing H 4799, H 4605, H 4392, H 4343, H 4325, and SB 0982, which would restrict history education.

• AHA Sends Letter to Iowa State University Urging Reconsideration of Planned Budget Cuts (March 2022)

  The American Historical Association has sent a letter to the leadership of Iowa State University expressing “grave concern about Iowa State University’s ‘reimagining’ of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the imposition of a cumulative 34% cut to the Department of History’s already lean operating budget.” “[W]e are mystified by the logic of a budget that will so dramatically diminish the presence of a department that has performed well, operated efficiently, and plays a central role in the university’s historic roots as a land grant institution dedicated to the role of higher education in public culture,” the AHA writes. The letter urges “the college to reconsider its drastic differential cuts” and emphasizes the Department of History is a “positive good to the budget, the university, and the citizens of Iowa.”

• AHA Signs On to Coalition for International Education Letter Urging Reauthorization of Key Title IV Programs (March 2022)

  The AHA has signed on to a letter from the Coalition for International Education calling on congressional leaders to support the reauthorization of key programs under Title VI of the Higher Education Act. “Since the National Defense Education Act of 1958, Title VI continues to be a key federal-university partnership in the nation’s strategy for ensuring US security, global competitiveness, and deep understanding of foreign languages and cultures,” the letter states. “The USICA and COMPETE Act bills reauthorize the key Title VI foundational programs that address the nation’s critical and expanding needs for expertise in foreign languages, world regions, and international business, to be available whenever an international or global crisis erupt.”

• AHA Signs On to African Studies Association Statement on Discriminatory Treatment of Africans Fleeing War in Ukraine (March 2022)

  The AHA has signed onto a statement from the African Studies Association (ASA) on the “discriminatory treatment meted out to Africans, including scholars and students, fleeing the war in Ukraine.” In the statement, the ASA condemns “this discriminatory, inhumane, and racist treatment of Africans fleeing Ukraine, which clearly violates international law,” and "call[s] on Ukrainian and authorities in neighboring countries to treat all those fleeing the conflict equally, with dignity, and without discrimination based on race or status.”

• AHA Sends Letter to Nebraska Legislature Opposing Legislation Restricting History Education (March 2022)

  The AHA has sent a letter to the Nebraska Government, Military, and Veterans Affairs Committee opposing LB 1077, which would restrict history education.

• AHA Sends Letter to Oklahoma Legislature Opposing Legislation Restricting History Education (March 2022)

  The AHA has sent letters to the Oklahoma House and Senate Education Committees and Senate Judiciary Committee opposing HB 2988, SB 1141, SB 803, and SB 1401, which would restrict history education.

• AHA Sends Letters to Alaska Legislature Opposing Legislation Restricting History Education (March 2022)

  The AHA has sent letters to the Alaska House and Senate Education Committees opposing HB 228, HB 330, HB 343, HB 391, and SB 196, which would restrict history education.

• AHA Sends Letters to Alabama Legislature Opposing Legislation Restricting History Education (March 2022)

  The AHA has sent letters to the Alabama House of Representatives and Senate opposing HB 312, HB 8, HB 9, and HB 11, as well as SB 292, SB 9, and SB 7, which would restrict history education.

• AHA Sends Letter to Ohio Legislature Opposing Legislation Restricting History Education (March 2022)

  The AHA has sent a letter to members of the Ohio House State and Local Government Committee opposing HB 327, which would restrict history education.

• AHA Sends Letter to Maryland Legislature Opposing Legislation Restricting History Education (March 2022)

  The AHA has sent a letter to members of the Maryland House Ways and Means Committee opposing HB 1256, which would restrict history education.

• AHA Sends Letter to West Virginia Legislature Opposing Legislation Restricting History Education (March 2022)

  The AHA has sent a letter to members of the West Virginia House of Delegates opposing Senate Bills 498, 45, 182, 558, 587, and 618 and House Bills 4011, 4016, and 2595, which would restrict history education.

• AHA Sends Letter to Kentucky Legislature Legislature Opposing Legislation Restricting History Education (March 2022)

  The AHA has sent a letter to the Kentucky House of Representatives and Senate opposing SB 138, HB 14, and HB 18 , which would restrict history education.

• AHA Sends Letters to Tennessee Legislature Opposing Legislation Restricting History Education (March 2022)

  The AHA has sent letters to the Tennessee House of Representatives and Senate opposing HB 2670 and SB 2290, which would restrict history education.

• AHA Sends Letter to Indiana Legislature Opposing Legislation Restricting History Education (February 2022)

  The AHA has sent a letter to members of the Indiana Senate opposing HB 1134, which would restrict history education.

• Historians Condemn Russian Invasion of Ukraine (February 2022)

  The AHA has released a statement “condemn[ing] in the strongest possible terms Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine” and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s abuse of history as justification for the attack. “Putin’s rhetorical premise for this brutal violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty is anchored by a set of outlandish historical claims, including an argument that Ukraine was entirely a Soviet creation,” the AHA wrote. “We vigorously support the Ukrainian nation and its people in their resistance to Russian military aggression and the twisted mythology that President Putin has invented to justify his violation of international norms.” To date, 42 organizations have signed onto the statement.

• Bomb Threats against HBCUs: A History of Domestic Terrorism (February 2022)

  The AHA has released a statement historicizing and condemning the numerous bomb threats received by at least 17 Historically Black Colleges and Universities in early 2022. “These crimes are part of a long history of attacks on institutions that serve the Black community," writes the AHA. “[These acts] spawned not only a hateful legacy, but also a current, ongoing threat to the physical safety and emotional well-being of all Black Americans.” To date, 44 organizations have signed onto the statement.

• AHA Sends Letter to Arizona Legislature Opposing Legislation Restricting History Education (February 2022)

  The AHA has sent letters to the Arizona House of Representatives and Senate opposing HB 2112 and HB 2291, which would restrict history education.

• AHA Sends Letters to Florida Legislature Opposing Legislation Restricting History Education (February 2022)

  The AHA has sent letters to the Florida House of Representatives and Senate opposing HB 7, HB 57, and HB 1557 and SB 148, SB 242, and SB 1834, which would restrict history education.

• AHA Sends Letters to Georgia Legislature Opposing Legislation Restricting History Education (February 2022)

  The AHA has sent letters to the Georgia House of Representatives Education Committee and Senate Committee on Education and Youth opposing HB 1084 and SB 377, which would restrict history education.

• AHA Sends Letter to Missouri Legislature Opposing Legislation Restricting History Education (February 2022)

  The AHA has sent a letter to the Missouri House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee opposing the following House Bills before the committee: HB 1457, HB 1474, HB 1484, HB 1554, HB 1634, HB 1669, HB 1767, HB 1815, HB 1835, HB 2132, HB 2189, and HB 2428.

• AHA Sends Letters to South Dakota Legislature Opposing Legislation Restricting History Education (February 2022)

  The AHA has sent letters to the South Dakota House of Representatives and Senate opposing HB 1337 and HB 1012, which would restrict history education.

• AHA Condemns Violations of Presidential Records Act (February 2022)

  The AHA has released a statement “condemn[ing] in the strongest terms former President Donald J. Trump’s reported extensive and repeated violations of the Presidential Records Act of 1978.” “Historians, journalists, and other researchers depend on the preservation of presidential records to educate the public and inform future administrations,” the AHA wrote. “These acts of destruction and noncompliance with the Presidential Records Act demonstrate blatant contempt for both the rule of law and the principles of transparency and accountability that constitute the bedrock of our nation’s democracy.” To date, 30 organizations have signed onto this statement.

• AHA Sends Letter to Collin College President Regarding Nonrenewal of History Faculty (February 2022)

  The AHA has sent a letter to Collin College president Dr. Neil Matkin stating that it “views with alarm your decision not to renew the contract of Dr. Michael Phillips, professor of history” after Professor Phillips’s request that his students “consider wearing masks to protect their own health and the health of their classmates.” This request, along with the historical context Professor Phillips provided about responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, was “well within institutional guidelines. . . . We fear that your actions will serve to intimidate other history professors who seek to teach about the history of pandemics and other controversial issues, and seek to protect the health of their students.”

• AHA Signs Statement Urging State Department to Protect Afghan Students and Scholars (February 2022)

  The AHA has signed onto a statement from the Middle Eastern Studies Association, the American Institute of Afghan Studies, and Scholars at Risk encouraging US State Department officials “to take immediate action to enable the safe and speedy relocation of Afghanistan's students and scholars, many of whom represent the best and brightest of the country's young generation.” The current admission pathways into the US, the statement says, “are not available to many Afghans who face challenges . . . . As the spring semester commences, we strongly encourage the White House to seize this moment and open a pathway for them to return to school and productive academic careers.”

• AHA Sends Letter Opposing Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District Resolution (January 2022)

  The AHA sent a letter to leaders at the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District opposing the proposed Resolution No. 21-12, “Resolution Opposing the Teaching of Critical Race Theory.” “If the district is committed to academic freedom,” the AHA writes, “why has it singled out one set of ideas—critical race theory—as a subject that cannot be taught in Placentia-Yorba Linda schools?” The AHA hopes history teachers will not be required to minimize historical transgressions or their influence on the evolution of American institutions. “To do so would be a direct and clear violation of ‘the commitment to teach a complete and accurate account of history.’” The letter includes a statement criticizing similar legislative efforts to restrict education about racism in American history, co-authored by the AHA in June 2021 and signed by 152 organizations.