RICHMOND, Va. — An internal battle has been brewing within the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) over who should publish the association’s journal that was founded by Dr. Carter G. Woodson, best known as the father of what has become Black History Month.
The disagreement has become so contentious among members of the 101-year-old association that some academics have taken to social media to disparage the current leadership of the association, calling them “heretics” and “sellouts” over a proposed plan to have the Journal for African American History printed and distributed by the University of Chicago press.
“It’s very inappropriate to call us sellouts,” said Dr. Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, the Victor S. Thomas Professor of History and African American Studies at Harvard who took over as president of ASALH in January. “Do you think Carter Woodson talked in that language? It’s more than inflammatory; it’s disrespectful.”
At the group’s annual business meeting held during the four-day conference in Richmond, members of the association’s executive council outlined a proposal to have the journal—which is currently printed by Tapestry Press—published in hard copy and electronic format beginning in 2017 by the University of Chicago, which is considered the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the country.
They argued that the current costs associated with producing the journal have put the association in a fiscal bind and that the partnership with the University of Chicago press would yield an immediate financial benefit of $100,000 a year and additional shared royalties for the association.
In addition, they’ve promised that the University of Chicago press will also provide copy editing, proofreading and editorial assistance to the journal and has agreed to fund an HBCU undergraduate paid internship program and provide free or discounted access to the journal throughout Africa and the Caribbean.
“We control what we own,” Higginbotham said, in response to criticism that ASALH would lose control over the journal if it’s printed by the University of Chicago press. “In every single respect, we own and control our copyright. This is a contract. The journal will be done better than it’s ever been done before.”
