The Citadel to host Southern Conference on Women’s History
June 4, 2015
CHARLESTON, SC — Women, history, race and law are among the topics that will be discussed during the tenth Southern Conference on Women’s History to be held June 11 – 14 in Charleston. The Citadel’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Department of History will co-sponsor the four day conference. Nearly 300 scholars who focus on the history of women in the South will gather for the triennial meeting of the Southern Association for Women Historians (SAWH).
The conference will examine a variety of topics in southern women’s history, including a focus on the conference theme:“Remembering & Gendering: Women, Historical Tourism, and Public History.” Several sessions will center on questions of law, race, gender and violence, with conference participants contributing to the nation’s ongoing conversation on those vital topics.
The conference’s opening plenary session, “Memory and the Civil Rights Movement”, will take place at The Citadel’s Holliday Alumni Center and will feature comments by The Citadel’s Mark Clark Distinguished Professor of History,Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, followed by a discussion with Renee Romano of Oberlin College on “The Limits of Commemoration: Civil Rights Memory and the Enduring Challenge of Innocence.”
“The SAWH is the leading organization to promote the study of women’s and gender history in the south, and the conference will bring to our campus a number of our nation’s leading scholars of that field. We are excited about the opportunity to host such an eminent gathering, and to showcase The Citadel’s own contributions to the study of women in the American south through the work of Professor Jacquelyn Hall, other department members, and The Citadel Oral History Program,” said Katherine Grenier, chair of The Citadel’s Department of History.
A reception for conference participants will follow at Johnson Hagood Stadium, sponsored by the School of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Department of History. The closing banquet will be held at The Citadel’s McCormick Beach Club.
“The selection of The Citadel as co-host of the annual meeting of this large and influential organization testifies to the enviable academic reputation that Professor Grenier and her colleagues have earned — and to the increased national respect from the community of women scholars that their efforts have brought to our campus,” said Bo Moore, dean of humanities and social sciences.
The plenary sessions are free and open to the public. Media is welcome to attend. Registration to attend the full SAWH conference will be available onsite at $100 for SAWH members, $150 for non-members and $60 for graduate students. A check or exact change will be accepted at the registration desk on the first floor of the Stern Center at the College of Charleston.
The following is a schedule of conference plenary sessions:
“Memory and the Civil Rights Movement” & “The Limits of Commemoration: Civil Rights Memory and the Enduring Challenge of Innocence”
June 11
5 p.m.
Holliday Alumni Center on The Citadel campus
Overview: Recent decades have witnessed a flurry of commemorative activity about the black freedom struggle and the history of racial violence in the United States, from the building of museums and monuments to the marking of anniversaries and the celebration of holidays. At the same time, racial inequalities remain deep and pervasive, as does racial violence in the form of police harassment and killing of people of color. In this keynote address, Renee Romano will bring together her work on historical memory and on civil rights-era violence to explore the relationship between commemoration and racial justice and to ask what role commemoration can play in helping achieve what James Baldwin described as one of the most powerful barriers to change: the willful ignorance of white Americans of the depth and extent of racism and racial violence in the nation’s history.
“Making Public the Most Private: Children, Families, and Household as a Challenge to Historians”
June 12
5 p.m.
Stern Center Ballroom at the College of Charleston
Overview: The discussion presents the experiences of historians uncovering the seemingly private spheres of home and family in various archives. By examining how the state and its institutions shape the inner lives of citizens, the panelists will engage the audience in strategies for uncovering these private stories.
“Women, Historical Tourism, and Public History in the Lowcountry”
June 13
5 p.m.
Stern Center Ballroom at the College of Charleston
Overview: Prominent scholars consider the role of gender, race, and class in representations of the Lowcountry region throughout a range of public history contexts. This discussion draws from each panelist’s research on Lowcountry history, from the colonial period to the twentieth century civil rights movement.
Other conference sessions will take place at the College of Charleston. Co-sponsors include the College of Charlestonand Clemson University. For more information please contact Katherine Grenier in history department at 843-953-5073 or[email protected].
Information on the Southern Association on Women Historians
SAWH was founded in 1970 and its membership includes over seven hundred women and men from around the world. The organization has several purposes: to stimulate interest in the study of southern history and women’s history, to advance the status of women in the historical profession in the US South, to provide a forum for women historians to discuss issues of professional concern, and to publicize and promote issues of concern to SAWH members.
About The Citadel
Charleston, South Carolina. The Citadel offers a classic military college education for young men and women profoundly focused on leadership excellence and academic distinction. Graduates are not required to serve in the military but about 30 percent of each class commission as officers in every branch of U.S. military service. Graduates of The Citadel have served the nation, their state and their community as principled leaders since the college was founded in 1842. The Citadel Graduate College offers more than 50 master’s degrees and graduate certificates in a wide range of disciplines, plus six undergraduate programs, through an all-evening schedule. Some graduate courses are available online.
