Statement, January 6, 2024
In Defense of the Right to Learn
A Resolution Passed by members of the American Historical Association at the Annual Meeting, January 6, 2024
The American Historical Association (AHA) will continue to vigorously:
- uphold accuracy in history teaching;
- intervene where appropriate and encourage members to organize against attacks on history and the work of historians;
- defend academic freedom and job security for history teachers at every level;
- write editorials and letters-to-the-editor defending teachers, librarians, and school board members; and
- testify before legislative bodies and school boards about the right to learn.
The Association welcomes support from its members for such activities.
January 3-6, 2025 in New York City
H-PAD at the AHA
In January of 2024 H-PAD held a radical history mini-conference within the larger AHA annual meeting in San Francisco. We sponsored 17 radical history sessions, held a vigil for the people of Gaza, and we proposed a resolution at the AHA business meeting calling on historians to oppose the suppression of academic freedom and honest education; it was approved unanimously.
We will be doing this again at the AHA Annual Meeting for 2025 in New York City.
Last Updated December 2023
Culture Wars Against Education Archive
Historians for Peace and Democracy has compiled an archive of materials on the past and present of the culture wars and responses to them. We hope this archive will help teachers and students on all levels educate themselves about the current crisis and find constructive ways to respond to it. The archive provides a variety of resources that will be useful as well for journalists, commentators, politicians, and the general public. Contents will be updated regularly.
Get Involved in H-PAD
How Historians Can Support Our Efforts
Support educators
Join Historians on Call
Historians-on-Call connects historians with local struggles and opportunities to support educators. To date, more than 90 historians have signed up from Arizona, California, D.C., Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and other states.
If you are a professional historian, we invite you to join Historians on Call. Visit our Current Activities page to learn more.
Become a member
Join H-PAD as an Active or Supporting Member
Consider becoming a member of Historians for Peace and Democracy. We have two types of membership to reflect our members’ different capacities: “Supporting members” receive communications from us about our activities and possible actions they might consider taking, while “Active members” are asked to indicate areas on which they would be interested in working. These currently include Historians on Call, the Culture Wars against Education Archive, the Legislative Action Working group, and the Israel-Palestine Working Group.
See our Current Activities for more information…
Contribute
Make a Donation
We have no member dues at this time. Instead, we rely on donations so that our network can continue to grow. Please consider committing to make a small monthly donation–our monthly “sustainers” make what we do possible.
Every dollar that you contribute goes directly to amplifying the voices of historians who support pro-democracy and anti-militarist movements at home and abroad.
Thank you for contributing to our work
Contact H-PAD
To donate by check, make it out to Historians for Peace & Democracy and mail it to:
c/o Van Gosse
392 Broadway #4F
New York NY 10013
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