The Coordinating Committee on Women in the Historical Profession (CCWHP) was founded in 1969 by activists who wanted to introduce feminism into the framework of the
American Historical Association. Because the American Historical Association at that time mostly excluded
people of color, women, and other groups, the CCWHP formed with the aims of expanding research into women's history, lobbying to oppose sexism and racism in the profession, and recruiting women to join the field. At the time the organization was formed,
Title IX had not yet passed, and women were likely to be excluded from admission to graduate schools and professional degrees and faced broad discrimination in hiring practices, or in attaining tenure. Male professors dominated the profession and women were mostly excluded from careers, including the ability to present papers at meetings, serve as reviewers or authors of scholarly publications, serve on committees or in leadership positions. The group was formed after political scientist and activist
Berenice A. Carroll circulated a letter urging women who were going to attend the American Historical Association's annual meeting in Washington, DC, in December to come together and discuss creating their own organization. Twenty-five historians signed up to attend a meeting to discuss launching a women's affiliate. Though regional affiliations had previously existed to support women’s issues in the history field, the CCWHP was the first organization that sought to represent women on a national scale. At the 1970 annual meeting of the
Organization of American Historians (OAH), CCWHP presented arguments for advancing women in the field. They were successful in obtaining a resolution to include women's history in academic programs content, but the Organization of American Historians left the status of women in the profession up to the prerogative of the American Historical Association. Members who had joined the call to action began, with the support of CCWHP, to create regionally focused historical associations specifically for women. Among them were the West Coast Association of Women Historians (1969), the Caucus of Women in History which became the Southern Association for Women Historians (1970), the New York Metropolitan Area Group (1971), the New England Association of Women Historians (1972), the Berkshire Conference on the History of Women (1973), Women Historians of the Midwest (1973), Upstate New York Women's History Organization (1975), and the Association of Black Women Historians (1979), among others. In 1974, they created the Conference Group on Women's History (CGWH), as a means to separate teaching and scholarship (CGWH) from the activist (CCWHP) aims of the organization. CGWH's mission was to expand the new scholarly field of women's history. Joining the
International Federation for Research in Women's History (IFRWH), the members sought to expand the field of women’s history and incorporated in 1989. In 1995, the organization changed its name to the Coordinating Council for Women in History (CCWH), uniting both the lobbying efforts and academic goals of the group. ==Organization==