New Statement (2025):
On April 2023, the Oral History Association issued a public statement on the banning of ideas. This statement expressed concern for laws passed in the United States at various levels which banned the teaching of histories of racism, LGBTQ+ issues, among others, and talked about how oral history itself is a field that values the democratization of history and a commitment towards justice and equality. We recognize this as another attack on intellectual freedom and democracy.
These tensions and attacks on academic freedom have only intensified since then, in the United States and around the world. For example, this year’s Executive Order 14253 (2025), “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” targets the work of the Smithsonian, and directly affects oral historians who work in this sphere. From cuts to the National Endowment for the Humanities, to layoffs of civil servants who do public history work, to the arrest of activist students for their political speech, to the decimation of universities and archives in war, the project of free inquiry into our pasts and our present with an eye towards building a more just future is in jeopardy. All of these trends have created a chill in oral history that fosters a hesitancy among narrators to participate in our projects.
The Oral History Association affirms the values of our field: democracy, respect, empathy, equity, and an interest in the lives and experiences of all human beings. From these values, we commit to using our practices and our strengths to ensure support for scholars and practitioners who are recording and working with difficult and important stories.
OHA CALL TO ACTION
In this spirit, the OHA commits to the following, designed to support our members and their communities, whose scholarship, pedagogy and activism are under threat of harassment, cancellation and criminalization:
- CREATE SPACE FOR IDEAS & DIALOGUE: If you are a scholar, educator, student or activist practicing oral history who is targeted by anti-intellectual legislation or harassment, or would like to promote your work on these issues, we would love to hear from you. We offer opportunities to publish, present talks to our members, and encourage you to host and/or attend a meet up (community support space) to share experiences and to mobilize and document the evolution of concerns named in this statement. OHA publications, blogs, social media and annual meetings are resources for keeping the battle for academic freedom in the public eye. To contact us, please write to the chair of OHA’s Advocacy Committee: Elena Foulis (efoulis@tamusa.edu)
- Join or host a Community Support Space, OHA provides a small funding to support these efforts: OHA Meetups – Oral History Association
- PROVIDE SUPPORT: Oral Historians at Risk, an initiative of OHA’s Advocacy Committee, seeks to support oral historians facing political or legal persecution for their work. For more information, visit our page.
- The OHA is currently collaborating with the Jason Chernasky and the OAH on an oral history project with Federal Workers affected by the policies of the new administration: Call for participants: New joint Oral History Project on Federal Workers! – Oral History Association
- SHARE EDUCATIONAL TOOLS: OHA will foster and disseminate oral histories and pedagogical resources from an anti racist and LGBTQ+ affirming perspective for academic and grassroots education.
April 2023
The Oral History Association stands with educators, students, activists and institutions who ask critical questions about U.S. history, and whose work provides the public with true accounts of the past while creating generative discussion in the present. We condemn all efforts, legislative and otherwise, to curtail research and education on the humanity and realities of persecuted peoples and communities in the United States.
For generations, the field of oral history has grounded itself in a set of values that serve to cultivate democratic culture: sensitivity, respect, empathy, humility, open-mindedness. At all levels of our work, we make concerted efforts to achieve equality by dealing openly with the facts of power and the pernicious realities of inequality. With this purpose in mind, the OHA reaffirms its commitment to our methodology’s core strengths towards justice and equality.
We are deeply concerned by the actions of Florida’s Department of Education to limit the teaching of Black Studies and African American History, the Idaho Senate Concurrent Resolution 118 (passed April 2022), Florida law HB 1557 (passed July 2022) and similar legislation around the country. We understand that these attacks on academic freedom are not new and will be followed by others. We commit ourselves to stay engaged, to keep our membership informed, and to provide direct support to those affected whenever possible.
OHA CALL TO ACTION
In this spirit, the OHA commits to the following, designed to support our members and their communities, whose scholarship, pedagogy and activism are under threat of harassment, cancellation and criminalization:
- CREATE SPACE FOR IDEAS & DIALOGUE: If you are a scholar, educator, student or activist practicing oral history who is targeted by anti-intellectual legislation or harassment, or would like to promote your work on these issues, we would love to hear from you. We offer opportunities to publish, present talks to our members, and encourage you to share experiences to mobilize and document the evolution of concerns named in this statement. OHA publications, blogs, social media and annual meetings are resources for keeping the battle for academic freedom in the public eye. To contact us, please write to one of the co chairs of OHA’s Advocacy Committee: Anna Sheftel (anna.sheftel@concordia.ca) or Liz Strong (elh2166@columbia.edu).
- PROVIDE SUPPORT: Oral Historians at Risk, an initiative of OHA’s Advocacy Committee, seeks to support oral historians facing political or legal persecution for their work. For more information, visit our page.
- SHARE EDUCATIONAL TOOLS: OHA will foster and disseminate oral histories and pedagogical resources from an anti racist and LGBTQ+ affirming perspective for academic and grassroots education.
It is challenging to address threats facing academic freedom that are happening at different levels, in school boards, cities and states across America, using different tactics and language. Nevertheless, we believe that together, we can take collective action and organize towards a more just world.