Commemorating History’s Dark Chapter
History PhD student Ashley Valanzola is researching the stories of six extraordinary Jewish women—Holocaust survivors who worked to honor the memory of lives lo
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Examining the Past to
Understand the Future
Studying history through today's lens
Who We Are
With an unparalleled location in the nation's capital, award-winning faculty and access to some of the most important research repositories in the world, the GW Department of History offers an ideal platform from which to explore our past. Undergraduate and graduate students are exposed to a diversity of topics, from the Africa diaspora to the Cold War, from imperialism to urbanization, from the founding of Islam to Jewish history, from race relations to labor, law and politics. Students graduate with the knowledge and analytical tools necessary for success in a wide range of careers.
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Where We Are
The Washington, D.C., area offers a front-row seat to history. Students are immersed in their surroundings through trips to museums, battlefields and historical sites including the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Jamestown Settlement, the Gettysburg Battlefield, the Society of the Cincinnati and George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate.
Through the department's collaborative relationships with institutions throughout the region, students also have extraordinary access to historical documents at the National Archives, the Library of Congress, the National Security Archive and the Smithsonian Institution.
"Thanks to the History Department, I was able to learn fascinating subjects, conduct important research, conference with knowledgeable and attentive professors, and graduate feeling prepared for the future as a historian."
Max Skidelsky
BA '20
History by the Numbers
Our Highlights
Department Headlines
Student-Led Exhibition, "George Washington and His World," Opens at the GW Museum
Seventeen students in Prof. Denver Brunsman's course, "George Washington and His World," curated an exhibition of the same name.
Carving Up the Thanksgiving Story
In his new book, David J. Silverman takes a close look at the traditional Thanksgiving story and the distortion of facts surrounding its legacy.
African Americans and Africa: A New History
Nemata Blyden discussed her latest book, "African Americans and Africa: A New History," at GW on October 22.
Faculty Books
After the Berlin Wall: Memory and the Making of the New Germany, 1989 to the Present
Drawing on an extensive range of archival sources and interviews, Professor of History and International Affairs Hope Harrison's book profiles key memory activists who have...
Professor of History Daniel Schwartz tracks the evolution of the word 'Ghetto' and offers a fascinating account of the changing nuances of this slippery term, from its...
African Americans and Africa: A New History
Nemata Blyden, professor of history and international affairs, presents an introduction to the relationship between African Americans and Africa.
Spinoza's Challenge to Jewish Thought: Writings on His Life, Philosophy, and Legacy
Daniel Schwartz, associate professor of history, examines the Jewish response to Baruch (Benedict) Spinoza, the controversial 17th-century philosopher.