Versatile, adaptable, and ready to step into many roles. In #AHAPerspectives, AHA director of teaching and learning Brendan Gillis argues that history majors are the utility infielders of the workforce baseball team. 🗃️
A DOGE staffer assigned to the National Endowment for the Humanities to flag grants for "DEI" tries to explain what "DEI" is. This deposition is part of a lawsuit by the @acls1919.bsky.social, @historians.org and @modernlanguage.bsky.social.
⚖️ ICYMI: Over the weekend we shared a major update in our lawsuit defending the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Newly released documents in the case reveal how DOGE and NEH officials decided which grants to cut during efforts to dismantle the agency.
Catch up on what happened:
Many thanks to wonderful @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social @arstechnica.com for this piece on our @historians.org AHR article on the proteomics analysis of Renaissance recipes. I really enjoyed our conversation!
Happening tonight! 🌎
Join us at 5 p.m. ET for The Civic Value of World History, an #AHALearn webinar for Civic Learning Week. How can global perspectives strengthen civic engagement?
Free & open to all—register now or sign up and view the recording on the AHA’s YouTube channel after the event.
A good overview of the incompetent and nonsensical (but not unexpected) way DOGE ripped apart the NEH last spring, leading to hundreds of cancelled grants for petty reasons. I'm grateful to @historians.org and co-plantiffs for challenging these actions in federal court.
In their lawsuit against NEH, ACLS, AHA, MLA, etc., include as an exhibit the AI-produced DOGE spreadsheet that determined if a project was too DEI for Trump. Here is the spreadsheet www.historians.org/wp-content/u...
This and a ton of additional material from our NEH case is available on our website historians.org/lawsuit-to-restore-the-neh
And more.
Read the full @nytimes.com story at www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/a....
Read more about the case and discovery findings, as well as how you can support this work, at historians.org/lawsuit-to-restore-the-neh.
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DOGE staffers violated the Federal Equal Protection Clause of the 5th Amendment by flagging grant descriptions as “DEI” solely because they included “BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color),” “homosexual,” “LGBTQ,” and “Tribal,” among other terms.
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DOGE fed grant descriptions into OpenAI’s ChatGPT generative artificial intelligence chatbot, asking it to decide if grants were “DEI.”
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McDonald and key members of the DOGE team bypassed authorized record preservation requirements and violated the Federal Records Act by conducting official government business regarding the cuts using Signal.
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McDonald cut out any Congressional role and asserted the authority of the Executive Branch to end funding. Grants representing hundreds of millions of dollars of congressionally appropriated funds were cancelled without statutory authority.
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The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led the termination of previously awarded grants. The acting chair, Michael McDonald, ceded his authority over this process to DOGE.
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Major news: A @nytimes.com story today reports on developments in our lawsuit, filed with @modernlanguage.bsky.social and @acls1919.bsky.social, opposing the illegal dismantling of the NEH.
The article covers newly released discovery in the case.
Here’s what discovery confirmed:
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One day I wanted to engage students in my history class in a way that would make an impact. I wrote an article for this month’s issue of Perspectives on History (American Historical Association) that will blow you away about it! Read the pdf version here: www.historians.org/wp-content/u...
The AHA recently announced the Community Action and Resource Exchange (CARE) network, which brings historians together to discuss shared professional issues and concerns, exchange ideas, and collaborate on strategies and solutions that strengthen the discipline. Get involved today.
Want to learn how to craft a compelling op-ed?
Watch “Op-Ed Writing for Historians" with @bryanbanksphd.bsky.social, @jelaniya.bsky.social, @mauracunningham.bsky.social, @franhirsch.bsky.social, @brianros1.bsky.social, & moderator @lmansley.bsky.social. #AHAOnline 🗃️
What counts as historical scholarship?
The AHA’s Guidelines on Broadening the Definition of Historical Scholarship offer a framework for recognizing a wider range of scholarly work and can be adapted for any institution where historians work and where historical scholarship is expected. 🗃️
AHA program & data analyst Whit Barringer told El Paso Matters the proposed TEKS recommendations are less diverse than current standards, narrowing Mexican American history while adding content to “replace teacher autonomy with state control of curriculum.” All Texans should be concerned, she said.
Check out the handout & recording from the AHA’s Feb. 11 Congressional Briefing on vaccines. Elena Conis, David M. Oshinsky, Michael Willrich & moderator Sarah Weicksel discussed smallpox, polio, measles, public perception, and the federal role in vaccine development & distribution. 🗃️
New today from #HistoryInFocus: AHR launches a project called "Authoritarianism 101," which will provide history teachers and students multiple pathways into thinking about the history of a wide range of authoritarian regimes and contexts. @historians.org
From policy advocacy to AI, innovative teaching, and preparing for the semiquincentennial, #AHA26 sparked a weekend of dynamic conversation. With 500+ sessions in Chicago, discussions were wide-ranging and forward-looking. Read the full recap in #AHAPerspectives.
Explore the AHA’s Resource Library, with hundreds of resources developed or vetted by the AHA and our partners. Our resources range from classroom syllabi, to archival documents from the Civil War, to standards and guidelines for the discipline, and more. 🗃️
“I still find history full of wonders; I still find in the differences in past societies a way to take stock of the present—a source of sober realism, but also a source of hope.” —Natalie Zemon Davis, 1996.
Read more about why history matters & the importance of historical thinking in public life.
The AHA has endorsed a resolution introduced by Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley honoring Black history museums and cultural institutions. These institutions are “essential to telling the full story of our nation’s past,” said AHA executive director Sarah Weicksel. 🗃️
The AHA resolution: Black history museums and cultural institutions are essential to fulfilling the US's founding promises and telling the full, accurate history of our nation. www.historians.org/news/aha-end...
Teachers: Today is the last day to apply for NHD’s Revolutionary Ideals webinar series. Don’t miss this amazing professional development opportunity to learn with leading historians about American principles throughout history! Apply at https://tinyurl.com/NHD-RevIdeals or the link in bio.
AHA member Laura Dierksmeier has long been dedicated to community service, volunteering extensively. In her Member Spotlight, she reflects on how witnessing ongoing hardship inspired her to “focus on historical contexts to better understand and address present-day problems.” 🗃️
The AHA sent a letter to the Tennessee Senate Education Committee registering serious concerns about pending legislation mandating the teaching of the history of communism in public K–12 schools. “This is not good history. It will not provide a strong foundation for student learning.” 🗃️
