2026 CALL FOR POSTERS

The 2026 Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) Poster Committee invites submissions for posters that address the conference theme, “A Century of Black History Commemorations”. Proposals that address the theme are preferred, however, any timely subject of interest to African American history will be considered. We encourage proposals from scholars working across a variety of temporal, geographical, thematic, and topical areas in Black history, life and culture.

Poster sessions are a means to communicate and exchange ideas, programs, research, and projects to fellow ASALH meeting attendees. This is a forum for exchanging innovative ideas, and for useful feedback and discussion. Viewers have an opportunity to become acquainted with new work quickly and easily and have more time to study the information and discuss it with presenters. Posters are often used to showcase a completed project, or to communicate ideas about research in progress.

Posters may be on any of the following:

• a description of an innovative program
• an examination of a practical, problem-solving endeavor
• an explanation of a research investigation
• novel projects or case studies
• branch histories
• community and/individual profiles

Proposals will be accepted for in-person and virtual presentations.

The committee seeks posters that probe the traditional fields of economics, accounting, politics, medicine, psychology, intellectual, and cultural history; the established fields of urban, race, ethnic, labor, and women’s/gender history as well as southern and western history; along with the rapidly expanding fields of sexuality, LGBTQIA, and queer history; environmental and public history; African American intellectual history; literature; and the social sciences. We look forward to proposals that center Black/African Diasporic resistance from multiple regions, embrace de-coloniality, and engage embodiment.

Submissions are welcome from all ASALH members, especially from ASALH Branches, high school, undergraduate and graduate students, and individuals who are recent graduates. If your proposal is accepted, you will have to join the Association and register for the conference.

Conference Theme

The ASALH Academic Program Committee is pleased to invite proposal submissions for panels, workshops, roundtables, papers, posters, media sessions, and Woodson Lightning Rounds at the 2026 ASALH Annual Meeting and Conference. The conference will be held in person in Norfolk, VA on September 23-27, 2026.

As we approach our 111th ASALH conference, we seek to showcase versatile and innovative historical research that includes and reaches beyond our theme of A Century of Black History Commemorations and highlights the roles and importance of storytelling, memory, and history. On this anniversary year, we are commemorating the history of the Association and are interested in the impact of challenges and successes in institutionalizing the teaching, study, dissemination, and commemoration of Black history. From Negro History Week to Black History Month, ASALH has carried forth the tradition, and these observances have become part of the fabric of American culture and increasingly the global community. Thus, this conference provides an opportunity to examine in depth this history as forces weary of democracy seek to use legislative means, book bans, and challenges to excise Black history from America’s schools and public culture. Black history’s value is not its contribution to mainstream historical narratives, but its resonance in the lives of Black people.

During this year, in which the 250th Anniversary of United States Independence is being commemorated, it is important to not only tell an inclusive history, but an accurate one.

Our 111th Annual Conference will also preserve and strengthen African American history in these stressful times. Black history continues to be assaulted on multiple political fronts, and we require scholars committed to studying the African American experience across many fields, topics, and interests. We especially call on emerging scholars and graduate students to submit research from their subfields. ASALH grows stronger each year as new scholars introduce their work at our annual conference.

We call on all scholars, organizations, students, independent researchers, and others interested in the African American experience to convene in Norfolk, VA, for the continued reshaping of African American history and thought.

General Proposals of Black Life, History, and Culture

To be induded on the program, your panel proposal need not be centered on the Annual Theme. The academic program committee will also accept panels and individual submissions that explore all aspects of Black life, history, and culture.

Submission

All proposals should be submitted via the All Academic system. You will need to provide an abstract (300 words or less), a title of your presentation, your name, email, and affiliation.

The submission deadlines for proposals are as follows: Early Bird Submissions will be accepted via All Academic until March 20, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. (EST). Conditional acceptance responses to Early Bird submissions will be sent out by April 22, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. (EST). After this date, the committee will accept all submissions until the deadline of May 18, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. (EST). Regular conditional acceptance submissions will be responded to by June 12, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. (EST). You will not be considered official until all session participants have joined the Association and registered for the conference.

The Association for the Study of African American Life and History proudly announces its Woodson Ambassador Program, which is an early professional training for History, Public History, and Museum Studies Scholars.

Students who attend ASALH’s Annual Meeting and Conference get to:

• Attend and participate in workshops and sessions geared toward rising professionals
  • Dissertation Workshops
  • Poster Sessions

• Gain experience working in a professional society as a member of the on-site program committee and/or the local arrangement committees.
• Receive a certificate verifying that they were a Woodson Ambassador

Who can participate

1. Undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in professional development.
2. Selected students will be provided conference session registration and membership fees.
3. Students who are willing to volunteer for a minimum of 8 hours during the conference. Conference dates are September 23-27, 2026.