Image

The UMass Amherst/Five College Graduate Program in History has announced that Howard W. French, award-winning author, historian and professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism will serve as 2026 Visiting Writer in History. While on campus the week of March 23, the former foreign correspondent and senior writer for The New York Times will deliver the Distinguished Annual Lecture in History, “Africa’s Struggle for a Place in the World,” on Tuesday, March 24 at 5:30 p.m. in room N151 of the Integrative Learning Center.

French’s address will discuss the history of Pan-Africanism and Africa’s role in 20^th century history, drawing on his most recent book, “The Second Emancipation: Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism, and Global Blackness at High Tide.” “The Second Emancipation,” the sixth book he has authored, was named one of Foreign Policy magazine’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.” 

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.

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.

For further information, visit https://www.umass.edu/history/about/annual-lecture.