ASALH Call for Papers: The History of Black Economic Empowerment

The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) is soliciting papers and panels for its upcoming 95th Annual Convention in Raleigh, North Carolina, September 29-October 3, 2010.

This year’s conference theme is: “The History of Black Economic Empowerment.” Although the program committee welcomes papers and panels on any aspect of African and African American history and culture, special preference will be given to submissions directly related to this year’s theme.

Using a wide variety of disciplines, this year’s conference seeks to explore many important aspects of African American economic life historically. Although the majority of peoples of African descent in the Americas were enslaved laborers until the 1880s, even under the various colonial and national regimes
African Americans transferred many of their economic institutions and practices from Africa to the New World, and adaptations were made in the new economic and political environment.

During the era of slavery collective economic activities in South America and the Caribbean such as the creation of African markets were pursued to supplement the often meager provisions offered by slaveholders. With emancipation beginning in the British West Indies in the 1830s, African peoples acquired small parcels of land that were used for economic advancement. The conference plans to explore the economic practices and institutions developed by African Americans making the transition from slavery to freedom.

In the post-emancipation years, African Americans developed a wide variety of capitalistic and cooperative economic activities. In addition to the huge increase in property ownership between the 1860s and early 1900s, African American entrepreneurs and businesses emerged and many prospered providing goods and services to the separate African American market. Papers providing scholarly analyses of the emergence of black businesses and entrepreneurs will be given particular attention.

Institutions formed to assist and improve the economic conditions for black workers in various parts of the country will also be examined. This year marks the centennial of the National Urban League and we plan to explore its role in advancing the economic circumstances for black workers and migrants to urban areas in the United States.

Given the recent changes in the global economy, papers offering comparative and/or interdisciplinary analyses of the impact of the larger political economy on African American economic life in the past and currently are particularly welcome.

The deadline for the submission of paper and panel proposals is 30 April 2010. Proposals should be submitted electronically and should include:

Title of paper or panel, author(s) and affiliation(s), an abstract of paper or panel of 200-250 words, and all contact information.

Proposals should be submitted to this link.

Academic Program Chair, Carlton E. Wilson, at cwilson@nccu.edu.