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Announcements and Conventions Notes: Letters from ABWH Members
CALL FOR PAPERS FOR EDITED VOLUME
Mothering and Hip-Hop Culture
Demeter Press is seeking submissions for an edited collection by Maki Motapanyane and Shana Calixte to be published in 2011.
Motherhood is an experience that has been everpresent yet invisible in the global music genre of Hip-Hop. Yet this aspect of women’s experiences within the movement has garnered little or no interest from journalists, writers and scholars of Hip-Hop culture. Nor do we have any understanding of how mothers who remain Hip-Hop enthusiasts negotiate their relationship to the culture of Hip‑Hop and its music with their children. What are the spaces that motherhood occupies in Hip-Hop? Are there ways of understanding mothering in Hip-Hop along a historical continuum? What are some of the ways that motherhood complicates the very masculinist discourses around hip hop? How can we create an empowered and feminist Hip-Hop mothering, what would it look like and how would it challenge the status quo? How are mothers engaging with Hip-Hop, both locally and globally?
The aim of this collection is to give motherhood within Hip-Hop culture an intellectual point of entry into an existing field of academic debates. Themes that submitted proposals engage may include:
Hip-Hop histories
Masculinity
Misogyny and violence
Consumerism and capitalism
The globalization and/or transnationality of Hip-Hop
Cultural appropriation
Political subversion
Cultural diversity
Feminist mothering
Heterosexualities
Queer identities and sexuality
Aesthetic continuity and change
Representation and the marketing of identities
Other themes not mentioned here
We seek both creative and academic submissions that tackle the complex ways in which motherhood and Hip-Hop frame these and other discussions. Abstracts are welcome from a variety of academic disciplines and perspectives.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
Abstracts: 250 words in length.
Deadline for Abstracts: August 1, 2009
Papers: 15-18 pages
Deadline for Papers: January 7, 2010
Please submit proposals to: Maki Motapanyane at maki@yorku.ca and Shana Calixte at scalixte@laurentian.ca.
ANNOUNCING A NEW OAH AWARD
DARLENE CLARK HINE AWARD
IN AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN'S & GENDER HISTORY
Recognizing the best book in African American women's and gender history, the first annual Darlene Clark Hine Award will be given at the 2010 OAH Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. For its inaugural year, the committee will consider books on African American women's and gender history published in 2008 and2 009. The winning author will receive $ 2,000 and the publisher will be honored with a certificate of merit, Entries for the 2010 award must be received by October 1, 2009.
For more information visit: http://www.oah.org/activities/awards/hine/
25th Annual Symposium on African American Culture & Philosophy "New Directions in Feminism and Womanism in Africa and the African Diaspora"
Keynote: Dr. Rosayln Terborg-Penn
Stewart Center * Purdue University * West Lafayette, IN 47906 November 5 - 7, 2009
We are seeking individual papers and panel submissions on topics related to Feminism and Womanism in Africa and the African Diaspora. Â We particularly welcome complete panel submissions. Abstracts (500 words or less) for individual presentations and panels (1,500 words or less) should be submitted by Friday, May 1, 2009. Please include, for all participants, a short biography with institutional affiliation and e-mail addresses. Registration Fee for the 25th Annual Symposium:
$75.00 for faculty and guest attendees and $50.00 for students.
Send paper and panel submissions to:
Dr. Venetria K. Patton
25th Annual Symposium
Beering Hall, Room 6182,
100 North University Street,
West Lafayette, IN 47907
Email abstracts to: aasrc@purdue.edu (abstract as subject)
LETTER FROM ABWH MEMBERS : CONVENTION NOTES
September 17, 2009
Dear Dr. Jones,
It is with great regret that I write to tell you that I will be unable to attend the October 3 luncheon of the Association of Black Women Historians, and to accept in person the Letitia Woods Brown Memorial Book Award for Justice Older than the Law. That same day, I will be attending the celebration of the 80th birthday of someone who is well known to everyone in ASALH, Dr. Walter J. Leonard. Walter Leonard is a longtime friend of Dovey Roundtree’s and he has been a tireless supporter of our book and of my efforts. He is also a dear friend, and his birthday celebration is an event that I simply cannot miss.
I would like the committee, the ABWH board, and all the luncheon attendees to know how honored I am, for myself and for Dovey Roundtree, by the Association’s recognition of Justice Older than the Law. It was my firm conviction, when I undertook 15 years ago to write Dovey’s story, that readers from all walks of life would be inspired by her courage as she broke through one racial and gender barrier after another. To have the book and Dovey’s achievements formally recognized by your organization speaks loudly about the importance of one of America’s greatest unsung heroes. It also speaks directly to Dovey herself. When Dr. Janet Sims Wood and I visited her in Charlotte last weekend at the nursing home where she now resides to present her with the finished book, I shared with her the news of the award and I read her the committee’s comments. She was thrilled and honored, and she has asked me to convey to you her appreciation and her prayers for your continued success in your important work.
My deepest thanks to you and to the ABWH. I hope at some point to meet and personally thank each and every one of the women who played a part in recognizing this book.
Sincerely,
Katie McCabe
October 9, 2009
Dear Sisters:
I was really overwhelmed at the award banquet and did not prepare to speak and because of this I inadvertently omitted several people who I wanted to thank. I want to thank Terry Kershaw and his wife Marilyn Kershaw, Elizabeth Clark Lewis, A’lelia Bundles, Stefan Bradley, and V.P. Franklin for their support. I am ever thankful to Ula Taylor who I met when I interviewed as a potential graduate student at Berkeley. She has been a presence and support in my academic career through the ASALH Conference and ABWH. She has always offered me advice, encouragement, and support. I am ever grateful to her because she recommended Beyond Lift Every Voice and Sing for publication and offered a critical, thoughtful, and erudite analysis of the manuscript that led to its transformation. The erudite scholar, mentor, and my dear, dear friend Dr. Gloria Louise Harper Dickinson of ASALH and ABWH remained a driving force in advancing my academic career as she introduced me to editors and scholars and her not so gentle prodding led to the publications. It is with heartfelt gratitude, admiration, and love that I thank Gloria for all she has done for me as my friend and as my mentor. Gloria, Heaven is brighter because you now emblazon the skies and shine there.
Paula Marie Seniors
Lorraine Williams Leadership/Service Award Recipient 2009
September 8, 2009
Dr. Jones:
The Lorraine Williams Leadership Award Committee is pleased to announce the selection of Dr. Elizabeth Clark Lewis as its 2009 Recipient. We found that Dr. Clark Lewis embodies the commitment, conviction, and character that exemplify the dedication and service of Dr. Lorraine Williams to higher education.
Dr. Elizabeth Clark Lewis is a full professor of twentieth century American history and the Director of the Public History Program at Howard University, the latter being one of the first such programs established at a historical black college or university. She has undergraduate and graduate degrees in history from Howard University and a doctorate in American Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park. She has authored or co-authored three major texts, including First Freed: Washington, D.C. in the Emancipation Era and Living In, Living Out: African American Women and the Great Migration and Emerging Voices and Paradigms. She has also penned numerous articles on women, migration, public and local histories, which are included in works published by the Smithsonian Press, Howard University Press, Cornell University Press, Duke University, D.C. Heath, and others.
For many of us Dr. Clark Lewis will be forever associated with the “professionalization and celebration” of black women’s labor in her award winning documentary, Freedom Bags. This oral history-based documentary, self produced and directed, received the Oscar Micheaux Best Documentary award, the American Association of University Women Scholars’ award and the National Education Association’s “Golden Apple” award. Soon other local oral history community narratives followed: North Brentwood (Maryland’s first all-black community); D.C.’s Potomac Gardens public housing development, and Alexandria, Virginia’s historic Gums Springs. Dr. Clark Lewis became the foremost African American scholar, male or female, in developing the presence of African Americans in Public History and Heritage Preservation. For over thirty years she has presented her research at not only scholarly conferences but also before gatherings at the National Archives, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Park Service Headquarters and as a specialist in African American public history before the Oral Historians of the Mid-Atlantic Region conferences. Her foresight into this arena is represented by her placing Howard University’s History Department on the map in public history early in the creation of the
field. The current popularity of public history graduate programs and the career opportunities bear out Clark Lewis’ investment of time and resources in creating a competitive and nationally ranked program. {As a side note, the graduate program in Public History at my insitituion is rapidly growing due to student interest, institutional financial support and hiring lines that are set aside specifically for this speciality.}
For all of us who teach at community, teaching centered or research focused colleges or universities, our jobs as black professors, particularly black female professors, do not have descriptions that are succinctly defined or neatly spelled out. So, we are called to nurture, groom, pull, provoke, guide, soothe, confront, …… our students achieving the degree, as we also nurture, assist, and mentor any other black person who finds our offices, any other minority group who needs a faculty sponsor, or any person on campus writing or researching on any person of color globally. Surely, this level and depth of service are not delineated in the faculty manual for promotion or tenure or the in the specifics on service during post tenure reviews. Many of us have had to teach departmental and college promotion and tenure committees about the uniqueness of our service and how we take those institutions into new academic and community arenas. This is the legacy of the Lorraine Williams, Margaret Rowleys, Helen Edmonds- those who groomed Clark-Lewis’ generation for preparing the next round of “race women and men.” In carrying out her “charge”, Dr. Clark Lewis has taught at Northern Virginia Community College, the University of the District of Columbia, George Washington University, Pennsylvania State University and since 1990, the History Department of Howard University. As stated above, she has served as the Director of Public History Program, the Director of the Graduate Program and as coordinator for student internships with museums, archives and historic preservation agencies. In 2001 she spearheaded the development of online instructions, teaching graduate courses and designing the implementation of undergraduate online classes in history. She was instrumental in establishing Howard University’s Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Assessment as she assisted her colleagues in understanding one of the processes of curriculum standards and assessment, the Blackboard Certification and Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC). Her commitment to Howard University has produced a cadre of young scholars who are now impacting the fields of American, African American, Women and Public histories. One of her former graduate students elaborated on Clark Lewis’ dedication not only to scholarship but particularly to her students—desiring to expose them to all fronts of learning. “Personally I transformed in career paths as a direct result of Dr. Clark Lewis’ influence since my arrival at Howard Univrsity over 15 years ago. Under her direction, ten graduate students from the History Department were able to attend the first conference held on “Black Women in the Academy: Defending Our Name” held at M.I.T. in 1994.” The young scholar continues in detailing how Dr. Clark Lewis mentored and guided her career path, along with many others.
Dr. Clark Lewis’ dedication to the Association of Black Women Historians, Inc. (and to the Association of Afro American Life and History, Inc.) is another monograph.
She has attended our annual meetings, she has served on committees, she has mentored younger professionals, she has served as regional director, assisted various national and vice national directors with annual luncheons and meetings, and now she serves as the national director of the organization itself. Whether the toll was enormous or not, she has continued in her commitment to this organization and the principles that have contributed to its thirty year history. As national director, she has also recruited the next generation of scholars to the organization who are making their way and who will leave their stamp on the lives and activism of black women. For many of us who have served in a variety of capacities in ABWH, we could always count on “Libby.” And for that, we collectively say, thank you.
Hence, for all of the above reasons, and many more, we honor Dr. Elizabeth Clark Lewis for her years of service to the profession and for her spirit of excellence. We salute the success she had garnered in the academy and in her current position as National Director of ABWH. As colleagues and sisters, we honor and affirm her.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jacqueline A. Rouse, Chair Lorraine Williams Leadership Committee