The Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) is a signatory of the joint statement released today by the American Historical Association (AHA) and the Organization of American Historians (OAH) condemning “recent efforts to censor historical content on federal government websites, at many public museums, and across
a wide swath of government resources that include essential data.”
“Our professional ethics require that ‘all historians believe in honoring the integrity of the historical record,’”
the statement reads. “We expect our nation’s leadership to adhere to this same basic standard and we will continue to monitor, protest, and place in the historical record any censorship of American historical facts.”
It continues:
"Words matter. Precision matters. Context matters. Expertise matters. Democracy matters. We can neither deny what happened nor invent things that did not happen. Recent executive orders and other federal directives alter the public record in ways
that are contrary to historical evidence. They result in deceitful narratives of the past that violate the professional standards of our discipline. When government entities, or scholars themselves, censor the use of particular words, they in
effect censor historical evidence. Censorship and distortion erase people and institutions from history."
Read the full statement on the AHA website.
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Cover image: C.J. Howard (architect), Mario Chiodo (sculptor), and Joanna Campbell Blake (artist), Contrabands and Freedman Cemetery Memorial, ca 2016. Photo by Dell Upton.
Alexandria was controlled by the U. S. Government throughout the Civil War and many enslaved people ("contrabands") went there to free themselves. This cemetery was established in 1864 to inter those who died there and it was closed in 1869.
