NCHE 2013 Conference: Richmond, Virginia

The National Council for History Education (NCHE) has scheduled the 2013 annual conference. Click here for details.

The theme for the conference is 'Emancipation & Human Rights in History.' It is scheduled for March 21-23, 2013.

Please check this link for updated registration information.


Proposals are being accepted. Submission deadline is September 24, 2012


In every era we teach or study, from ancient civilizations to the postmodern world of the twenty-first century, we encounter struggles for emancipation. These may be stories of the enslaved seeking their freedom, the colonized their independence, or the victims of tyranny their liberties. Not all of these struggles end in victory, but each reveals the desire of individuals, groups, and entire nations to liberate themselves from the control of others.
  Our study of movements for emancipation raises critical questions. For example, how does freedom get taken away, and what laws or institutions or ideologies sustain systems of enslavement or domination? What forms does resistance take? What justifications emerge to defend slavery or domination and what challenges are mounted against it? How is emancipation achieved and what are its consequences? What does freedom mean to those who deny it to others and to those who struggle to achieve it?
  While freedom is one of the most basic of human rights, others have been articulated throughout history, including protection from persecution based on race, religious beliefs, gender, or political views, as well as universal access to adequate shelter and food, education, economic opportunity, and political participation. How and why did these ideals develop? What events in history prompted men and women to advocate them or to reject them? What documents best articulate the value of these rights? These and other questions arise from the conference theme and await your answers.
  As we commemorate the sesquicentennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, the NCHE invites proposals for presentations and poster sessions on this theme for its 2013 conference in Richmond, Virginia. All proposals will be evaluated on the basis of their intellectual content—that is, whether they are historically accurate and address interesting and important questions appropriate to historical inquiry and teaching—as well as their ability to engage the audience.