The NEHA Executive Board endorses this May 12, 2017 statement by Evelyn Higgenbotham, president of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, and expresses its institutional commitment to these shared goals alongside our colleagues:

The Association for the Study of African American Life and History decries the messages of hate and harm that have appeared in recent weeks, as was the case when a lynching noose was placed in the National Museum of African American History and Culture and when death threats and homophobic insults were sent via social media to Professor Keeange-Yamahtta Taylor of Princeton University for her criticism of President Trump in her commencement address at Hampshire College. It was the glorification of white violence against African Americans that movie theaters featured in the 1915 film Birth of a Nation; this film intensified the determination of Dr. Carter G. Woodson in the founding of ASALH in that year. Despite significant progress over the past century, the present day threats are painful reminders of our nation’s racial past, but they are also reminders of ASALH’s commitment to eliminate the scourge of racism through the effective use of knowledge of African Americans’ historical contribution to society.