Jacqueline Jones

“I worry that the impulses driven by anti-intellectualism and anti-science play such a major part in shaping our political landscape today.”

“I am distressed that some people believe that enforced ignorance about our country’s past is a virtue. As historians, we aim to provide an accurate view of the past, even if that includes topics that are uncomfortable or upsetting to us now. Any effort to eliminate or ignore certain aspects of history does our students a disservice. The profits wrung from the labor of enslaved peoples helped to make the United States a prosperous nation — or rather, a prosperous nation for a few.”

“I have seen first-hand the corrosive effects of the notion that the study of the humanities in general and history in particular is less valuable to undergraduates than the study of science, math, and engineering. In fact, an understanding of history is a critical component of citizenship—for citizens of the United States, and citizens of the world.”

“Q. What do you value most about the history profession? A. It seems to me that the profession has avoided the bitter in-fighting over methodology that has wracked other disciplines over the last few decades. I think historians are welcoming of different kinds of methodologies and different topics of study. And I think we pretty much agree among ourselves that we know good history when we see it.”

“I grew up in a village of 500 people in Delaware in the 1950s, and attended a segregated elementary school. At an early age I wondered why the black students who lived near my school did not attend it.”