Black Perspectives

There are presently no open calls for submissions.

We no longer use this program for submissions. Please send all submissions to editors@aaihs.org.

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Thank you for your interest in writing for Black Perspectives, the award-winning blog of the African American Intellectual History Society (AAIHS). We are always looking for new essays on various aspects of global Black intellectual history, op-eds on current events, and creative pieces (we do not accept unsolicited book reviews or author interviews).

We welcome essays from professional and freelance writers. Please send the first completed draft of your essay to editors@aaihs.org and be sure to include “Blog Post Submission” in your title. Please do not send us any email attachments (we will not open them); you must include your piece in the body of the email. We will do our best to review and respond to your piece within 2-3 weeks of submission. All pieces go through a peer-review process and authors should expect to revise before publication. We reserve the right to reject submissions that do not meet our expectations.

Writers should carefully review other articles on the site to familiarize themselves with content and style. Because of the high volume of pieces we receive, we cannot guarantee a quick response or publication date.

Please carefully review the guidelines below before writing your post:

  • All pieces must be exclusive to us. We will not consider reprints or pieces that are under review elsewhere. As a condition of publication, the author hereby grants and assigns to Black Perspectives any and all rights covered by the Copyright Law of the United States and those of all foreign countries in and to the work, including subsidiary rights and rights in any medium now known or hereafter discovered.
  • Please note that we do not provide financial compensation to authors.
  • All posts should be approximately 1000-1500 words long. Shorter pieces are fine.
  • Please remember that you’re writing for a general audience. Use clear and compelling prose. And please avoid jargon. If you must use it, please define it for the reader.
  • Avoid the lengthy footnotes. You can and should feel free to use footnotes but we prefer that you make good use of hyperlinks. Rather than include ten footnotes to several books, consider including fewer footnotes and a few hyperlinks directly to the books or articles you are citing. Please use brackets to indicate the inclusion of footnotes and hyperlinks i.e. [See www.aaihs.org] OR [See The Charleston Syllabus by Chad Williams, Kidada Williams and Keisha N. Blain (University of Georgia Press, 2016)]
  • Keep the title short. Avoid the historian’s trend of including a very long quote in titles. And avoid using terms that readers will not understand (again, stay away from the jargon). Please note that your titles are suggestions only–the blog editors will make the final decision about all titles.
  • Please proofread your posts. It goes without saying that we want to feature posts that reflect the high quality of the blog. When you are ready, please send us your post by clicking the “submit” button below. **Guest posters are strong encouraged to join AAIHS if they are not already members. Joining AAIHS allows guest posters to create a profile on the site.

**All contributors to the blog grant the AAIHS an unlimited perpetual license to publish the posted content in any media. Authors do not retain ownership of pieces and must obtain written permission from the blog’s senior editor in order to reprint in other venues. Anyone interested in reprinting pieces that appear on the blog must submit a request in writing to the editors.

Black Perspectives