Note from the President of the Association of Caribbean Historians

In 2018, the Association of Caribbean Historians (ACH) celebrated its 50th conference in Barbados. The ACH is a non-profit, professional organization devoted to the promotion of Caribbean history from a multidisciplinary, pan-Caribbean perspective. While the ACH was not officially established until 1972, the first “conference” was held in 1968 as a colloquium under the leadership of Profesor Jacques Adélaïde-Merlande, of Guadeloupe. Since then, the organization, the primary association for scholarly and public historians working in the field, has grown to several hundred members around the globe.

A major pillar of the Association is its commitment to holding its annual conference in destinations across the Caribbean in different linguistic territories, encouraging the exploration of the region’s rich history. The ACH currently attracts 120 to 150 regional and international delegates to our conference every year and the conference continues to help host destinations to raise the profile of local history, heritage and culture by encouraging local participation, including students, and discussion of local historical issues and themes.

The ACH is pleased to collaborate with the Journal of Caribbean History in this special issue as we both stimulate original, excellent research, addressing all aspects of Caribbean history. The JCH has selected five articles submitted by members of the ACH that reflect this ambition. The contributions are by both young and more seasoned scholars, with regional and international affiliations, and cover a variety of topics and countries. They reflect the ACH’s membership and the presentations at our annual conferences.