First-Issue of the JNH, 1916
*On this date in 1916, the Journal of African American History published its first issue.
The Journal of African American History, formerly The Journal of Negro History (1916–2001), is a quarterly academic journal covering African American life and history. It was founded in 1916 by Carter G. Woodson. The journal is owned and overseen by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) and was established in 1916 by Woodson and Jesse E. Moorland. The Journal of African American History (formally the Journal of Negro History) was one of the first scholarly texts or journals to cover African American history.
It was founded by Woodson, an African American historian and journalist. The journal was and is a publication of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, an organization founded by Woodson. The journal was the dominant source of learning about African American history at its conception because there were no other such texts. The journal allowed black scholars to publish articles examining African American history and culture while documenting the everyday black experience in the United States.
While the journal mainly published the work of black authors and encouraged their academic success, it was also an outlet for white scholars who had different views than their counterparts. Woodson's efforts to cover African American history at a time when it was unacknowledged have led him to receive the nickname "Father of African American History." The journal publishes original scholarly articles on all aspects of the African American experience.
The journal annually publishes more than sixty (60) reviews of recently published books in the fields of African and African American life and history. As of 2018, the University of Chicago Press published the journal on behalf of the ASALH.
