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We are pleased to announce that Thomas Cryer (UCL) has won the ECR Article Prize for his article, “‘A False Picture of Negro Progress’: John Hope Franklin, Racial Liberalism, and the Political (Mis)uses of Black History during the 1963” published in Journal of American Studies in 2024. In awarding the prize, the prize committee wrote the following:

In the lead up to the 1963 centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, the Kennedy Administration commissioned historian John Hope Franklin to write a pamphlet chronicling the history of US civil rights since 1863. In this thoughtful and original article, Thomas Cryer recounts the ways that Franklin’s efforts were stymied and censored by government-appointed historians who sought to whitewash that history into a linear narrative of liberal progress. With a careful eye for detail and fluent prose, Cryer has shown the ways that the contestation over Black history revealed a much deeper logic of mid twentieth-century liberalism: “a broader non-reckoning with America’s white supremacist past.” In so doing, Cryer shows the enduring racial logics that shaped liberalism and its supporters—and the impact this had on the histories of the nation that they espoused. Cryer’s is an excellent article that compels us to reconsider the ways that racial liberalism prevents a historical and political reckoning with white supremacy.

We are also very pleased to award the HOTCUS Research Awards grants to defray the costs of research to the following recipients:

1. Sophie Stanford, working on “Restorative Justice or Cold War Manipulation?: Situating Redress for Japanese Internment Within the Context of International Geopolitics During the Reagan Administration”
2. Lucy Kelly, working on ““I want to fight the fight. I want my rightful place”: Queer Worldmaking in the American South, 1970-2000”
3. Paula Murphy, working on “‘Whatever Happened to Unity?’ Co-Curation and Resistance in Hip-Hop’s First Decade”

Since 2003, the RIAS has organized a seminar for doctoral students pursuing research in American History / American Studiestwice a year. The next seminar will take place in Middelburg on 26-28 November 2025. We kindly invite applications from current doctoral candidates whose research covers any aspect of American culture, media, society, politics, or foreign relations, current or historical.

We are particularly interested in studies in the following research areas:

• Culture and ideology
• U.S. in the world
• Environmental issues
• Race and gender studies
• Social justice movements, civil and political rights

We welcome proposals for research papers (e.g., a dissertation chapter) or papers that provide an overview of the PhD project. Participants will present their paper and contextualize it within their research project in a 15-minute presentation. Each presentation is followed by a group discussion of approximately 45 minutes, providing extensive opportunities for feedback.

Applicants are invited to submit their proposals, consisting of a 300-word abstract and a CV, both in PDF, no later than Friday, 12 September 2025. These should be addressed to the seminar coordinator, Jeanine Quené, and sent to info@roosevelt.nl.

To support a culture of diversity and inclusion, we strongly encourage proposals from students that reflect the diversity of our field in terms of gender, ethnicity, and disability.

Participants will be expected to have a paper (approximately 6,000 words) ready for pre-circulation by Friday, 7 November 2025.

The RIAS will provide accommodation and meals in Middelburg.

For more information, please see this link