Working from a foundation of excellence, the student-run journal History in the Making: A Journal of History, has been awarded first place in the 2020 Gerald D. Nash History Graduate Journal competition, given by the Phi Alpha Theta National History Honor Society.

The award is for the 13th volume of the journal, which was published in the spring of 2020. The student-reviewed and edited journal is an annual publication of the university’s Alpha Delta Nu Chapter of the Phi Alpha Theta National History Honor Society, and is sponsored by the CSUSB Department of History.

Contributing student editor and author, James Martin said, “Working with my peers on the journal was a rewarding experience and being honored with the Nash Award is a glowing testament to everyone’s hard work.”

Back row from left: James Martin, Megan Kyriss, Fernando Sanchez
Back row from left: James Martin, Megan Kyriss, Fernando Sanchez
Middle row from left: Sara Haden, Angel Rivas, Amelia Lindell, Nathanael Gonzalez
Bottom row from left: Myles Becnel, Chase Hanson, Marmar Zakher, Benjamin Shultz
Not pictured: Cameron Smith, Carter Dix, Efren Perez

The honor, which solidifies its reputation as one of the top student history journals in the nation, comes after the journal won the 2019 Gerald D. Nash History Journal First Prize and followed the 2018 third prize in the honor society’s graduate print journal national competition – the first time the History in the Making was entered in that category.

“The work that goes into this journal every year is always inspiring, but considering the challenges students faced this past year, it is really wonderful to see their perseverance, cooperation, and outstanding scholarship recognized in this way,” said Jeremy Murray, associate professor of history and faculty advisor of the student journal with professor Tiffany Jones.

Prior to the latest recognition and the 2019 first prize and the 2018 third prize, the journal had been awarded five Gerald D. Nash History Journal Awards in the undergraduate competition (third place in 2009 and 2013, second place in 2012 and 2015, and first place in 2014).
 
And this award comes not long after the CSUSB History Club/Alpha Delta Nu Chapter was named the best chapter in the nation by the Phi Alpha Theta National History Honor Society – for the fifth time in six years, and for the fourth consecutive year. (The awards were put on hold by the national office for the 2019-20 academic year, but the CSUSB chapter plans to compete again this year.)

The 13th volume of History in the Making was produced under challenging circumstances when, like universities across the nation, CSUSB was forced to switch to remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic beginning in March 2020.

Students Fernando Sanchez and Marmar Zakher, serving as chief editors, led a staff that completed the journal after the pandemic forced stay-at-home orders that resulted in classes meeting virtually in online environments in the closing weeks of the winter quarter and all of the spring quarter.

Included in the journal’s more than 300-pages is a “Pandemic Photographic Essay: 1918 Spanish Flu and 2020 COVID-19,” compiled by the History in the Making editorial board, which used historical photos from that era. “As students of history, we look back to similar instances of public crisis, specifically the 1918 Spanish flu, which occurred at the same time as the Women’s suffrage movement was gaining momentum, to learn, grow, and prepare,” the editorial board wrote. “Currently, the world is experiencing a grave pandemic and national protests for George Floyd and Black Lives Matter. Both events are shaping our lives and are slated to leave their respective marks on history.

“Stay-at-Home orders have encouraged citizens across the country to do their part to stop the spread of COVID-19, but protesters in major cities like Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Washington, D.C., have gathered by the hundreds to protest police brutality and racial violence,” they wrote. “As the United States pushes its people to wear masks and stay six feet apart, its people of color ‘can’t breathe’ and are looking for answers. We are living through history and we hope this photographic essay will be timely and informative.”

Journal articles also included “The Movement that Sinned Twice: The Cristero War and Mexican Collective Memory,” by Consuelo S. Moreno; “Discovering a Purpose in a Listening Democracy: The People’s Voice in 1930s/40s America,” by Celeste Nunez; memoriam articles on journalist Cokie Roberts, author Toni Morrison and pro-basketball player Kobe Bryant; and reviews on films and books, and the Norton Simon Museum.

Led by Sanchez and Zakher, the journal staff included copy editor Benjamin Shultz and associate editors Amelia Lindell, Angel Rivas, Benjamin Shultz, Cameron Smith, Carter Dix, Chase Hanson, Efren Perez, James Martin, Megan Kyriss, Myles Becnel, Nathanael Gonzalez and Sara Haden. The journal’s faculty advisors were Jones, professor and chair of the CSUSB Department of History, and Murray, associate professor of history.

The online version of the latest volume is available at the History in the Making webpage.