In 1962, the President of the American Historical Association criticized young historians because they were - in his words, "products of the lower middle-class or foreign origins, and their emotions... get in the way of historical reconstructions."

His remarks remind me of Franklin Roosevelt's speech to the Daughters of the American Revolution. Roosevelt greeted his audience with, "My fellow immigrants."

Thanks to historians, we increasingly understand that American history is not only the story of those whose ancestors came from Europe.

American history also embraces those brought in chains through the treacherous middle passage from Africa. It embraces those who came from Asia to work on railroads. It embraces those who came from the Iberian Peninsula, following the routes of explorers from Spain and Portugal. In addition, it embraces those who came across the Bering Straits and spread to every part of the Americas.

Over the last four decades, Historians have helped us rediscover American history in exciting new ways.

Their work has not been without controversy. Peter Novick writes eloquently about history movements of our lifetime--New Left, black, ethnic, feminist--movements that some hold responsible for the "fragmentation" of historiography.

Eric Foner shows how, to the contrary, each new generation of historians deepens our understand of America.

Historians create what Foner calls "a collective self-discovery about the nature of our society."

Our society is in the midst of radical change.

We see this change in New York City where the Hispanic population is now larger than the African-American population.

We see it here in California, the first mainland state where whites are the minority. We also see it in Lowell, Massachusetts, where the descendants of English settlers hired entire families of Irish immigrants to work in textile mills.

There is still a large population of immigrants in Lowell. But they are not from Ireland or Great Britain. Today Lowell has the nation's second largest settlement of Cambodian-Americans--almost a third of the city. And it is home to the nation's largest group of Americans born in Sierra Leone.

During the next half-century the United States will become a majority non-white nation. Our population will increase about 131 million people, 90% of whom what we now call "minorities."

African Americans will increase 83%--and Native Americans 95%.

Hispanics 258%.

Asians 267%.

Among children younger than 5, white children will be a minority by 2030.

This change will have a profound impact on the entire world. Has there ever been such a rich mix of the world's population gathered together within a single nation?

William Ferris believes historians will be instrumental in reporting and interpreting this change, what it means for our collective sense of identity and our future as Americans.