American Historical Association
@AHAhistorians
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The American Historical Association is the largest professional organization serving historians in all fields and all professions. https://t.co/UFbKcbY7Na
Joined September 2009
Today, the AHA published a major report with findings from the most comprehensive study of secondary US history education undertaken in the 21st century. The AHA did not find indoctrination, politicization, or classroom malpractice. (1/10)
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We know teaching today's events—which are not a “moment,” but the product of a long history—presents a familiar, yet unusually urgent, challenge: how can students use historical knowledge and thinking to understand the present? Here are some resources that might help. #sschat.
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The AHA has released a statement opposing #HB999, "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 US.”
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The AHA has issued a statement condemning the #1776Report. “Written hastily. without any consultation with professional historians of the United States, the report fails to engage a rich and vibrant body of scholarship" from the past 70 years.
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Contrary to certain media coverage, there is no longer any serious controversy among social studies teachers about slavery’s central role as the cause of the Civil War. Virtually all teachers are teaching their students that the Civil War was about slavery.
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AHA considers “White House Conference on American History" ill-informed, a disservice to history as a discipline, history education, & the nation. To learn from the past we must confront it. A history classroom is an arena for evidence-based exploration.
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The AHA will no longer sponsor employment interviews at its annual meeting. Details here:
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.@AAUP, @AHAhistorians, @aacu, and @PENamerica have authored a joint statement stating their "firm opposition" to legislation, introduced in at least 20 states, that would restrict the discussion of “divisive concepts” in public education institutions.
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There is a new plan at California State University to cut core requirements for U.S. history and civics courses (. Please contact Governor Newsom & ask him to reject this proposal put forth by the CSU General Education Task Force:
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The AHA submitted a comment encouraging Microsoft Word to enable commenting on footnotes. “Adding the ability to comment on footnotes,” explained @JimGrossmanAHA, “would be of tremendous benefit to historians across the world.”
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The AHA has issued a statement “deplor[ing] recent decisions among college and university administrators to draw on local and state police forces to evict peaceful demonstrators.”
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The AHA is excited to host David W. Blight and @agordonreed for "Erasing History or Making History? Race, Racism, and the American Memorial Landscape.” Moderated by @JimGrossmanAHA, this virtual event will be held on 7/2 at 12:30 PM. Register at the link!
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From the AHA Statement on Confederate Monuments.
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Rather than banning ChatGPT in his history classes, @_jonathansjones created an assignment to teach students what it can and can’t do. He shares this experience in #AHAPerspectives:
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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. #twitterstorians
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The AHA sent a letter to the University of Mississippi expressing concern about the university’s decision not to renew the contract of Garrett Felber, assistant professor of history, and the possibility that Professor Felber’s activism … (1/2)
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Historians, the band A-ha has begun tweeting its 2018 season. As in previous years, we've taken special measures to avoid confusion. For the American Historical Association's annual meeting this January in DC, please use the hashtag #aha18.
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How do historians undertake their chosen profession with integrity in an era of unrelenting presentism? asks AHA president James H. Sweet in #AHAPerspectives.
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A new app developed by @chnm allows researchers to organize, annotate, and add metadata to the photos they take in archives.
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Were you a history major? As part of an ongoing effort to advocate for the BA in history and highlight the value of historical thinking, the AHA invites responses to the "Why Study History?" questionnaire. Fill it out today!
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The AHA issued a statement registering concern about a policy by India’s Ministry of Higher Education/Department of Higher Education requiring Indian scholars and administrators to obtain prior approval to convene online or virtual international events.
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Please read this apology from James H. Sweet regarding his recent #AHAPerspectives column. "I apologize for the damage I have caused to my fellow historians, the discipline, and the AHA. I hope to redeem myself in future conversations with you all."
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Are you teaching classes on colonialism and empire in your history course? Check out @HistoryCtr's new Teaching Decolonization Resource Collection!
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The AHA urges the College Board to reconsider recent changes to the AP World History exam that limit it to “content only from c. 1450 to the present,” which is likely to reduce the teaching of precolonial and non-Western history at the high school level.
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History majors "go on to become much better educated than the avg person, filling roles in a wider range of careers"
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The AHA Council approved an addition to the AHA's hiring process guidelines to encourage institutions to request reference letters only from candidates who've passed initial screening. Read about this and other Council action items on #AHAPerspectives:
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A conversation about history has been invaded by trolls uninterested in civil discourse in last 12 hrs. This is appalling. Therefore conversation is temporarily limited to our community. AHA condemns all harassment of members of our community & others who replied in good faith.
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“The Assault on the Capitol in Historical Perspective: Resources for Educators” is now available as a web page with additional resources. We hope these resources help history teachers and students better understand the present. #twitterstorians #sschat
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AHA statement, co-signed by 42 scholarly societies to date, deplores US record of violence against African Americans, committed either outside the law or in the name of law enforcement itself. #EverythingHasAHistory
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The AHA has released a statement condemning the FLDOE’s recent ruling that "would eliminate almost entirely the history of LGBTQ+ people from the Florida social studies curriculum." #FreedomToLearn #HonestHistory
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The AHA has issued a statement condemning the executive order restricting entry to the United States:
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History majors "go on to become much better educated than the avg person, filling roles in a wider range of careers"
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AHA letter to ICE strongly objects to decision on foreign students attending schools operating entirely online. This ruling is likely to have a devastating effect on hundreds of thousands of foreign students and the colleges and universities they attend.
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Congratulations to AHA member @agordonreed (@Harvard), who was recently named University Professor, Harvard’s highest faculty honor. Of Gordon-Reed, the university president says “[she] has changed how people think about America.”
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Think a #historymajor won't prepare you for a career? @PublicMedieval busts that, and other myths, with data
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.@AHAhistorians mourns the passing of former president Tyler Stovall. Mentor to students, prodigious scholar, and dedicated teacher and administrator, Tyler modeled how a historian can contribute to the many communities in which we participate.
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Teaching the Civil War? We prepared a selection of primary sources specifically on the causes of secession.
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The Red Summer of 1919 saw "not just riots and lynchings, but forced expulsions of entire black populations of small towns," "the destruction of black homes and businesses by white mobs," and "an increasingly militarized police."
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“Slave ships and colonial plantations emerged as new environments that enabled doctors to study epidemics,” writes @jimdowns1 in @TIME. “At the heart of epidemiology is a history of violence and conquest.” #twitterstorians
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The AHA mourns the passing of historian Ira Berlin, who received the 2015 Award for Scholarly Distinction and served on the Research Division from 1987-1990. His kindness and generosity to AHA staff was a model of mentorship, professional responsibility, and collegiality.
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The AHA encourages testimony before the Virginia Board of Education about the state’s social studies standards process. A new version of revised standards would create substantial gaps in the knowledge and historical thinking skills taught to VA students.
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"It should not have been necessary for me to have side-hustles to earn a living wage" while in graduate school, writes @TheOtherRBG. For The Graduate column in #AHAPerspectives, she describes the challenges working "gigs" to afford basic living expenses.
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The American Historical Association apologizes to our colleagues who work in archival institutions for a letter addressed to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Please read:
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ICYMI from last year's #AHAPerspectives, history majors "go on to become much better educated than the average person, filling roles in a wider range of careers"
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"There is a real problem with how professional historians relate to archivists’ jobs, work, and institutions," writes @eliza_audacis in #AHAPerspectives. "It is time to imagine the next level of engagement we can have with each other’s professional lives."
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Ever come back from the archives with hundreds, if not thousands, of photos? A new app called @tropy can help historians organize and annotate their images! Read more in #AHAPerspectives:
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The Dewey Decimal Classification had one number for slavery and one for colonization. “And that was stupid to me,” said Dorothy Porter. #BlackHistory
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The AHA has sent a letter to the Museum of the American Revolution asking that the museum “reconsider its decision to rent event space to Moms for Liberty as part of that organization’s Joyful Warriors National Summit.”
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The Red Summer of 1919 saw "not just riots and lynchings, but forced expulsions of entire black populations of small towns," "the destruction of black homes and businesses by white mobs," and "an increasingly militarized police."
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From Uncle Tom's Cabin to Beloved, enslaved people fleeing across a frozen Ohio River has appeared in popular culture. In #AHAPerspectives, @TiyaMilesTAM describes how this waterway played a role in 19th-century debates over slavery.
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After careful deliberation, the AHA has determined that it will be impossible to hold the annual meeting in Seattle from January 7–10, 2021, as originally planned, due to the the global health crisis. #twitterstorians (1/3)
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AHA president James H. Sweet: “The history of race and slavery in the United States is a history of all of us. I have a very difficult time understanding the kind of fear that this stokes. My question back to them would be, what are you scared of?”
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Indigenous history is US history. Yet many US history surveys fall short in their attempts to incorporate native voices and experiences. @JohnRosinbum shows how teachers can use #dighist projects to help fill in gaps.
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In the 1830s, African Americans in Ohio challenged the state’s racist laws that denied them many basic rights. In @SmithsonianMag, AHA member @katemasur recounts these activists’ long struggle to repeal the laws. #twitterstorians
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The AHA has monitored with increasing concern Virginia’s history & social studies standards revisions process. We encourage testimony at the VBOE Feb. 2 hearing and to submit comments in support of draft standards developed by the AHA, @theVaSSLC, & @VASCD.
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The AHA urges the College Board to reconsider recent changes to the AP World History exam that limit it to “content only from c. 1450 to the present,” which is likely to reduce the teaching of precolonial and non-Western history at the high school level.
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Over the past year, AHA Cmte on Broadening the Definition of Historical Scholarship has drafted a report, to be completed Jan 2023. @JimGrossmanAHA (2020): "Historians can benefit from interaction among scholarly practices in different publication venues."
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ICYMI from last year's #AHAPerspectives, history majors "go on to become much better educated than the average person, filling roles in a wider range of careers"
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A history degree doesn't narrow your opportunities after college. Instead, the history major opens a world of possibilities for your future. Check out the federal employment figures for history majors:
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Every history dissertation title, searchable in one place: The AHA’s Directory of History Dissertations contains over 57,000 dissertations completed or in progress at 204 history departments in the US and Canada. Browse it today! #twitterstorians
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The AHA has sent a letter to the president of New College of Florida, expressing “deep concern about New College’s decision not to renew the contract of Erik Wallenberg, a visiting assistant professor in the Department of History.”
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The anti-racist book list is not new. As Ashley Dennis shows in @madebyhistory, “During World War II, black women librarians created lists of anti-racist books as an explicitly political act.” Read more: #twitterstorians @washingtonpost
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The AHA is pleased to announce the winners of its 2024 prizes, which honor exceptional books, distinguished teaching and mentoring in the classroom, public history, and other historical projects. Congratulations to the 2024 awardees! #AHAPerspectives
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Dorothy Porter, a @HowardU legend, built up and organized one of the world’s premier #Africana research collections. Find out how in #AHAPerspectives.
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The AHA is pleased to announce the winners of its 2022 prizes, which honor exceptional books, distinguished teaching and mentoring in the classroom, public history, and other historical projects. Congratulations to the 2022 awardees! #AHAPerspectives
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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.” #twitterstorians
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Lonnie Bunch (@SmithsonianSec) wants “museums to be a place that gives the public not just what it wants, but what it needs.” In this wide-ranging interview in @nytimes, Bunch reflects on the role of cultural institutions: #twitterstorians
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The imagery seen in the crowd during the insurrection at the US Capitol was "a mixture of fascist authoritarianism, nostalgia for the Confederacy, and medievalism," writes @prof_gabriele in #AHAPerspectives on the appropriation of medieval history.
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“I’m often asked: ‘Can a history major be of any value in business?’” writes former Procter & Gamble CEO/chairman John Pepper at @daytondotcom. “’I can’t imagine any course of study being more valuable.’” (1/3) #twitterstorians
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@n_hold The AHA recently wrote to the president of Collin College on behalf of AHA member Dr. Lora Burnett, requesting that the college respect “the right of historians to express their opinions as private citizens without fear of institutional discipline.”
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Teaching the events of January 6—which are not a “moment” but the product of a long history—presents a familiar yet urgent challenge: how can students use historical knowledge & thinking to understand recent crises? Here are some resources that might help.
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The June issue of @AmHistReview offers both a Forum and a Roundtable on the important place of Haitian history in the Atlantic world. Read more in #AHAPerspectives:
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Rather than banning ChatGPT in his history classes, @_jonathansjones created an assignment to teach students what it can and can’t do. He shares this experience in #AHAPerspectives.
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In response to "Ongoing partisan agitation. that seeks to replace evidence-based history instruction with a whitewashed version of patriotism," the AHA and @The_OAH have joined @LearnfromHist, write @JimGrossmanAHA and @Beth_A_English in #AHAPerspectives.
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Ever come back from the archives with hundreds, if not thousands, of photos? A new app called Tropy can help historians organize and annotate their images.
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New resource alert: The AHA has compiled a professionally vetted bibliography of historians’ responses to COVID-19, to benefit the public, teachers, and scholars seeking historical perspectives on the current crisis. Read it & submit additional links here:
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.@UTSA is digitizing over 2,000 Mexican recipe books, some dating back to 1789, and making them accessible as free e-books. In @atlasobscura, Luke Fater describes the project and the historical value of the recipes: #twitterstorians
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In response to ongoing racist violence in the United States, we have compiled a list of AHA resources on the history of racist violence. Use them in classrooms, news articles, and scholarship. #twitterstorians #sschat
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“Enslavers enforced control over enslaved women’s reproduction through various means,” writes @Crystallynnweb in @BlkPerspectives. "When enslaved women interfered. they contested the terms and logic upon which the white supremacist patriarchy depended."
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Research in space history is often hampered by large gaps in the archives. What are historians and archivists doing to ensure preservation? Zoe Jackson reports in #AHAPerspectives:
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By using terminology such as archive "precisely and correctly when discussing cultural heritage work, historians can ensure. a fully contextualized understanding of what is present, what might be missing, and why," writes @brimwats in #AHAPerspectives.
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“We should want our children to lean into the discomfort that should be caused by studying American history honestly." For @AHAhistorians, @ProfJeffries and other historians on the importance of #FreedomToLearn in the classroom and teaching #HonestHistory.
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Ever come back from the archives with hundreds, if not thousands, of photos? A new app called @tropy can help historians organize and annotate their images! Read more in #AHAPerspectives:
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The AHA is pleased to announce the winners of its 2023 prizes, which honor exceptional books, distinguished teaching and mentoring in the classroom, public history, and other historical projects. Congratulations to the 2023 awardees! #AHAPerspectives
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Ever come back from the archives with hundreds, if not thousands, of photos? The app called Tropy can help historians organize and annotate their images! Revisit this article in #AHAPerspectives to find out how:
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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." #twitterstorians
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The AHA is pleased to announce the winners of its 2021 prizes, which honor exceptional books, distinguished teaching and mentoring in the classroom, public history, and other historical projects. Congratulations to the 2021 awardees! #AHAPerspectives
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“The ability to search millions of digital records in an instant,” writes @william_sturkey in @TheAtlantic, gives historians information “about everyday Black men and women whose lives & loves constituted the true core of the African American experience.“
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The AHA issued a statement condemning “the actions of those who, on January 6, stormed the United States Capitol, the seat of the nation’s legislature, the heart of its democratic form of governance.” Read the full statement: #twitterstorians
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Attn #twitterstorians: we are excited to announce the launch of a new, highly interactive, version of Where Historians Work. Explore the careers of over 8,500 history PhDs using this new tool. #AHACareerDiversity.#AHAData
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The Society of American Historians recently elected its 2020 fellows. Eight members of the AHA were among the honorees. Congratulations to @ProfCAnderson, Gordon Chang, @arielagross, @AriKelman, @KevinMKruse, Mae Ngai, Valerie Paley, and Kim Phillips-Fein.
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.@ProfessorTwitty recently located the racist speech delivered by Charles Scott at the 1906 dedication of @OleMissRebels’ Confederate monument. Read more in @TheAtlantic. #twitterstorians
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"Twitter has provided me with a professional and personal outlet for connecting," writes @varsha_venkat_ in #AHAPerspectives. "Tweeting . has completely changed my graduate experience, my career plans, and my networks."
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The AHA announces a major new initiative to offer $2.5 million in grants to dozens of small history-related organizations adversely affected by the #COVID19 pandemic. (1/3) #twitterstorians
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In light of the #Kavanaugh hearings, it's worth reflecting on how historians listen to stories of #sexualassault. Or don't. #twitterstorians
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Congratulations to the winners of the AHA's 2018 prizes for publications and scholarly and professional distinction!
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374 ratified treaties between the US and Native nations are now available online, thanks to a digitization project by @USNatArchives and @NMM_IndianArts. @mcgreevynora writes about the Indigenous Digital Archive Treaties Explorer in @SmithsonianMag:
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The AHA announces “Confronting a Pandemic: Historians and COVID-19,” an initiative to document historians’ responses to the pandemic, create digital resources to help with remote instruction, and support early career historians. #twitterstorians (1/2)
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