The University of Massachusetts Amherst/Five College Graduate Program in History is pleased to announce that the 2026 Visiting Writer in History is Howard W. French, award-winning author, historian, and professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. French will be on the UMass Amherst campus during the week of March 23, 2026.
During his time on campus, French will deliver the Distinguished Annual Lecture in History, "Africa’s Struggle for a Place in the World," on Tuesday, March 24 at 5:30PM in the Integrative Learning Center, Room N151. His address will discuss the history of Pan-Africanism and Africa’s role in 20th century history, drawing on his most recent book, The Second Emancipation: Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism, and Global Blackness at High Tide. The Second Emancipation was named one of Foreign Policy’s Most Anticipated Books of 2025 and Publisher’s Weekly described it as, “A fluent exploration of an important if often overlooked political leader whose ideas still bear consideration.” French has published five other books and is a former foreign correspondent and senior writer for the New York Times.
The Distinguished Annual Lecture is free and open to the public and is made possible thanks to the support of the Five College Consortium and the UMass Amherst Department of History. Books will be available for purchase courtesy of Amherst Books at the event, and a book-signing will follow.
Organized by the UMass Amherst history department, the Visiting Writer residency facilitates sustained conversation with widely-read authors whose historical work engages broad public audiences. The Department of History’s Distinguished Annual Lecture celebrates the 1996 establishment of the UMass/Five College Graduate Program in History, and has featured addresses by the nation’s most preeminent historians. Both initiatives are presented by the UMass/Five College Graduate Program in History with support from the UMass Amherst history department and Five Colleges, Inc.