AHA Guide for Contending with Online Harassment
Actions to Take When Confronting Online Harassment
Historians have the right to expect that discussion of their historical work will be conducted in a civil manner, free from harassment and intimidation. That right is violated by those who target scholars online, especially via social media, with hate speech; online threats; doxing, trolling, and cyberattacks; and other forms of harassment.
You Are Not Alone
Contact the AHA for Support
The AHA, other professional associations, and organizations that advocate for free expression may be able to offer advice and support. We encourage AHA members facing threats, harassment, or institutional retaliation to contact our executive director. The AHA may be able to provide advice, facilitate connections, or draft a letter or statement of support.
Contact Additional Organizations for Support
In addition to the AHA and other professional associations, the following organizations and networks may be able to provide support:
American Association of University Professors, including campus and state affiliates and the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom
Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
Freedom of the Press Foundation
Researchers Support Consortium
Scholars at Risk
The AHA is a member of the Scholars at Risk network.
Resources to Support Yourself & Colleagues
Field Manuals & Guides
AAUP, Academic Freedom Field Guide
FIRE, Research & Learn
Institute for Strategic Dialogue, Resources and Toolkits
PEN America, Online Harassment Field Manual
- Abusive tactics
- How to be an ally
- How to prepare (including against hacking and doxing)
- How to respond (including assessing threats, blocking/muting/restricting, and documenting)
- Practicing self-care
PEN America, “Digital Safety Snacks,” which includes “step-by-step videos to help you defend yourself against online abuse.”
PEN America, “Online Abuse & Digital Safety”
South Asia Scholar Activist Collective, “Hindutva Harassment Field Manual”
Articles & Information
Nina M. Flores, “Tweets, Threats, and Censorship: Campus Resources to Support Faculty Through Incidents of Targeted Harassment,” (National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement, 2025).
Lily Hay Newman and Matt Burgess, “How to Protect Yourself From Phone Searches at the US Border,” (Wired, 2025).
Presidents’ Alliance, Resources on Higher Education and Immigration
Scholars at Risk, Academic Freedom Media Review: US Bulletin
Viktorya Vilk, “What to Do If You’re the Target of Online Harassment," (Slate, 2020).
AHA Resources on Academic Freedom
Ad Hoc Committee on Academic Freedom
In light of continuing threats to the historical discipline, academic freedom, and freedom of speech, the AHA has established the Ad Hoc Committee on Academic Freedom to help the AHA use its authority to convene historians from many institutional backgrounds and other scholars and practitioners with relevant expertise to aid the Association in its work with affiliated societies and other scholarly associations to advocate collectively for academic freedom.
AHA Statements & Reports
American Lesson Plan: Teaching US History in Secondary Schools (2024)
Statement on Standards of Professional Conduct (2023)
Statement on Right to Engage in Collective Bargaining (2022)
Improving the Status of Non-Tenure-Track Faculty: Recommendations for History Departments (2020)
Statement on Employing International Faculty (2018)
Statement of Support for Academic Freedom (2016)
Report of the AHA Committee on the Rights of Historians (1974)
AHA Events
AHA Congressional Briefing, The Federal Government & Academic Freedom in Higher Education (2024)
AHA Online, History Behind the Headlines: The Role of the Bible in the Founding of the United States and Religious Mandates in Public Schools (2024)
AHA Online, Don’t Say Gay, Stop WOKE, Banned Books, and Anti-Trans Laws: Teaching Through the Backlash (2023)
AHA Online, History Behind the Headlines: African American History and State Standards in Florida and Beyond (2023)
Defending Academic Freedom
AHA Advocacy
The American Historical Association provides leadership for the discipline, defends academic freedom, and promotes the critical role of historical thinking in public life.
October 7, 2019
AHA Defends Emeritus Professor Romila Thapar
September 25, 2019
