African American historiography and community history preservation: a position paper.(Association for the Study of Negro Life and History's collection of African-American historical literature)

When Dr. Carter G. Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1915 and The Journal of Negro History the following year, those acts led to the institutionalization of the study of African American history. During the remainder of the 20 century, and into the 21st the number of specialists in the field increased, and many historians contributed groundbreaking studies to the field of African American historiography. By the end of the 20th century, most major American universities offered courses on the subject, and African American history was generally recognized as a legitimate area for serious academic inquiry.

In the last quarter of the 20th …