The 2018 ASALH Program Committee invites proposals for individual papers, entire sessions, presentations, performances, films, round-tables, workshops, conversations, or alternative formats dealing with the 2018 theme, “African Americans in Times of War,” which commemorates the centennial of the end of the First World War in 1918 and explores the complex meanings and implications of this global struggle. The First World War was termed initially by many as “The Great War,” “the war to end all wars,” and the war “to make the world safe for democracy,” those very concepts provide a broad, useful framework for focusing on African Americans during multiple wars—from the Revolutionary War Era to that of the present War against Terrorism. Times of War must inevitably provide the framework for many stories related to African American soldiers, veterans, and civilians. This is a theme filled with paradoxes—of valor and defeat, of civil rights opportunities and setbacks, of struggles abroad and at home, of artistic creativity and repression, and of catastrophic loss of life and the righteous hope for peace.

The theme suggests that contemporary conditions are cause for critical pause in considerations and studies. Therefore proposals can explore any of these issues: opportunities for advancement and repression during wartime, the roles of civil rights and Black liberation organizations in the struggle abroad and at home; African American businesses, women, religious institutions, the Black press; the struggle to integrate the military; experiences in the military during segregation/apartheid and integration; health development; migration and urban development; educational opportunities; veterans experiences once they returned home; how Black soldiers and/veterans are documented and memorialized within public and private spaces; the creation of African American Veteran of Foreign War posts, cultures and aesthetics of dissent; global/international discourse; impact and influence of the Pan-African Congress, the Black Power movement and the Black Panther Party; and the topographies and spaces of Black soldiers’ rebellion. These diverse stories reveal war’s impact not only on men and women in uniform but on the larger African American community.

The Program Committee seeks a diverse slate of presenters representing a variety of personal and institutional backgrounds, perspectives, and voices. We are interested in proposals that probe the theme within the traditional fields of economic, political, diplomatic, intellectual, and cultural history; the established fields of urban, race, ethnic, labor, and women’s/gender history as well as southern, Appalachian, and western history; and the rapidly expanding fields of sexuality, LBGT, and queer history; environmental and public history; carceral state studies; and

transnational and global studies across all fields, topics, and thematic emphases. We seek to foster a culture of inclusion in the ASALH program and encourage submissions from anyone who is interested in presenting, including students, new professionals, first-time presenters, and those from allied professions.

We encourage proposals focusing on research, teaching, and public education that broadly addresses our theme and related aspects of the global Black experience as creatively as possible. Our theme is the opening of opportunities for scholars working across a variety of temporal, geographical, thematic, and topical areas in Black history, life and culture. We are interested in proposals that probe the theme and related topics within the fields of economic, political, diplomatic, intellectual, and cultural history; the fields of urban, rural, race, ethnic, labor, and women’s/gender history; the rapidly expanding fields of sexuality, LBGTQ, and queer history; environmental and public history; and cultural studies including literarure and the visual and performing arts.

Deadlines for submission of proposals are as follows:

Early Bird submission deadline for individual papers and organized panels is April 15th. After this date, all individual and panel submissions will be accepted until the deadline of April 30th. All proposals must be submitted electronically to ASALH through the All Academic online system. For complete panels submitted by April 15th, day and time preferences can be requested and will be granted on the basis of first come, first served.

Please refer to the ASALH website for Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for submission requirements for the various kinds of sessions.

Audio\Visual: Only panel proposal submitters will receive complimentary audio/visual equipment on a first-come, first-served basis.

For proposals for the Film Festival and for the Film Media Sessions, please refer to the ASALH website for further information and submission requirements.