What Does it Mean to Be an Activist Historian?: A Roundtable with the Editors

shimmers me timbres

Editors’ Round Table on Activist History

In this roundtable-style conversation, the longstanding editors at The Activist History Review and its newest members discuss “activist history,” what it means to be an activist historian.

MB (Michael T. Barry Jr.): What is activist history and why do we do it?

CJY (Cory James Young): When Will asked me to write the conclusion to our edited volume, Demand the Impossible, two years ago, I had to think deeply about this question. I ended up proposing a typology that identified four kinds of activist history: histories of activists, histories for activists, histories inspired by activists, and histories that are activist. Of course these categories blur, but they are a reminder that “activist history” is itself a broad category (we want to make space for a diversity of approaches, after all!).

Perhaps my favorite kind of activist history—one I’m not sure fits neatly into…

View original post 2,556 more words