
Famous History Majors
What can you do with a history degree? The possibilities are nearly endless. To demonstrate the many career paths available to those with undergraduate degrees in history, the AHA has assembled a list of notable history majors.
Some of these history majors are famous, some are not so famous, and some are even infamous. The list is not comprehensive, and inclusion does not constitute an endorsement by the AHA. Since the focus of the list is on the breadth of careers available to history graduates, we have excluded individuals who currently draw significant income from writing or teaching about the past.
Athletics
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — NBA
Univ. of California, Los Angeles
Grant Hill — NBA
Duke Univ.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee — Athlete
Univ. of California, Los Angeles
Shaka Smart — Athlete and College Basketball Coach
Kenyon College
Business and Nonprofits
Chelsea Clinton — Author, Nonprofit Leader, and Health Advocate
Stanford Univ.
Carly Fiorina — Businesswoman, Hewlett-Packard
Stanford Univ.
Sam Kass — Chef, Nonprofit Leader
Univ. of Chicago
Robert L. Johnson — Entrepreneur, BET
Univ. of Illinois
Sam Palmisano — CEO, IBM
Johns Hopkins Univ.
John Pepper — CEO and Chairman, Procter & Gamble
Yale Univ.
Martha Stewart — Businesswoman
Barnard Coll.
Film and Television
Sean Astin — Actor
Univ. of California, Los Angeles
Ellen Barkin — Actor
Hunter Coll.
Sacha Baron Cohen — Comedian
Univ. of Cambridge
Dean Cain — Actor
Princeton Univ.
Steve Carell — Comedian
Denison Univ.
Julia Child — Chef, Author, TV Presenter
Smith Coll.
Larry David — Comedian
Univ. of Maryland
Brian Dennehy — Actor
Columbia Univ.
Will Forte — Actor
Univ. of California, Los Angeles
Cary Fukunaga — Director
Univ. of California, Santa Cruz
Katherine Hepburn — Actor
Bryn Mawr Coll.
John Lithgow — Actor
Harvard Univ. (History and Literature)
Christopher Meloni — Actor
Univ. of Colorado at Boulder
Errol Morris — Documentarian
Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison
Edward Norton — Actor
Yale Univ.
Conan O’Brien — Comedian
Harvard Univ. (History and Literature)
Michael Palin — Actor
Univ. of Oxford
Journalism
Ramtin Arablouei — Journalist, NPR
Saint Mary’s Coll. of Maryland
Chris Berman — Commentator, ESPN
Brown Univ.
Wolf Blitzer — Journalist, CNN
Univ. at Buffalo, State Univ. of New York
Terry Gannon — Sportscaster
North Carolina State Univ.
Seymour Hersh — Journalist, New Yorker
Univ. of Chicago
Charles Kuralt — Journalist, CBS
Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Kai Ryssdal — Host, NPR’s Marketplace
Emory Univ.
Kristen Welker — Journalist, NBC
Harvard Univ.
Law
Eric Holder — Former US Attorney General
Columbia Univ.
Elena Kagan — US Supreme Court Justice
Princeton Univ.
Joshua Matz — Attorney
Univ. of Pennsylania
Antonin Scalia — Former US Supreme Court Justice
Georgetown Univ.
Sonia Sotomayor — US Supreme Court Justice
Princeton Univ.
Music
Jimmy Buffett — Singer-songwriter
Univ. of Southern Mississippi
Anthony da Costa — Singer-songwriter
Columbia Univ.
Fiction
Jasmine Guillory — Author
Wellesley Coll.
Annie Proulx — Author
Univ. of Vermont
Politics
John Baldacci — Governor of Maine
Univ. of Maine, Orono
Joseph Biden Jr. — US President
Univ. of Delaware
Gordon Brown — UK Prime Minister
Univ. of Edinburgh
George W. Bush — US President
Yale Univ.
Tom Cole — US House of Representatives
Grinnell Coll.
Ken Dryden — NHL, Canadian Parliament
Cornell Univ.
Newt Gingrich — US House of Representatives
Emory Univ.
Orrin Hatch — US Senate
Brigham Young Univ.
Josh Hawley — US Senate
Stanford Univ.
Deidre Henderson — Utah Lt. Governor
Brigham Young Univ.
Richard Nixon — US President
Whittier Coll.
Stacey Plaskett — US House of Representatives Delegate
Georgetown Univ.
Pat Robertson — Televangelist and Presidential Candidate
Washington and Lee Univ.
Franklin D. Roosevelt — US President
Harvard Univ.
Department Advocacy Toolkit
What do students learn in history? What is the value of a degree in history? The AHA has assembled this toolkit to help departments, administrators, advisers, and students navigate the AHA's library of resources in order to better articulate the value of studying and majoring in history. If you're looking for data, personal narratives, or department strategies, this guide is for you.
In Their Own Words
The AHA has gathered testimonials from history majors on the value of a history degree. Read the “In Their Own Words” testimonials here.
Questionnaire: Why Study History?
The history major provides both a stepping stone towards dynamic careers in many industries and preparation for ongoing contribution to civic life. As part of a continuing effort to advocate for the BA in history and highlight the value of historical thinking, the AHA invites responses to a new "Why Study History?" questionnaire. Your answers will help shape the AHA's response to the nationwide decline in the number of history majors and the downward trend in history enrollments.