Call for Papers

August 21, 2020

EVELYN G. ETHERIDGE CONFERENCE ON THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE PAINE COLLEGE - AUGUSTA, GEORGIA
OCTOBER 28 – 29, 2020

Venue: Paine College 1235 Fifteenth Street, Augusta, GA 30901

Contact: Prof. Nancy W. Bookhart, Conference Chair, (NBookhart@paine.edu) or Mrs. Heba Elziebair, Conference Administrative Assistant, (HElziebair@paine.edu)

Paine College in Augusta, Georgia is excited to host its 23rd Evelyn G. Etheridge Conference on the Harlem Renaissance. The Conference is critical to the rich legacy of art and education and its transformative power for the African American community. The Harlem Renaissance is one of the most important artistic and cultural movements in history that spanned from 1919 to 1940 and produced notable writers, critics, and artists such as Claude McKay, James Weldon Johnson, Augusta Savage, Gwendolyn Bennett, Bessie Smith, and Alain Locke. Paine College is located centrally to beautiful downtown Augusta in the heart of the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA). Augusta is the host of the prestigious Masters Golf Tournament at the Augusta National Golf Course and is the home of James Brown, the Godfather of Soul and internationally renowned opera star, Jessye Norman. This year's conference and celebration will be held virtually. Further information will be posted on the Paine College website, www.paine.edu.

Call for Papers Now Open

The Department of Humanities currently requests abstracts and proposals for panel sessions and individual papers that examine this year's conference theme, Centennial Reflections on the Harlem Renaissance: Reawakening the Black Consciousness in the 21st Century. As the Harlem Renaissance turns 100, this conference will reflect upon the legacy of this movement and its relevance in the 21st Century. The call of the Renaissance to affirm Black humanity in American life resonates with this century's concerns about Black lives, Black consciousness, and Black subjectivity and initiates a call to action and service to promote social and cultural progress of Black Americans. In sum, this year's conference will analyze how the Renaissance was indeed as acclaimed sociologist, Charles S. Johnson, stated, "a revolution and a revelation".

Sessions and presentations will analyze literature, history, philosophy, sociology, economics, art, and music and will provide inter- and cross-disciplinary approaches from the social and political sciences, economics, and STEM. Possible areas of inquiry include but are not limited to:
- The Harlem Renaissance at 100: Examining Its Legacy of Artistic and Cultural Production in the United States and Internationally
- Black Politics and the Harlem Renaissance
- Race and Religion in Harlem and the United States
- Social Movements, Political Activism, and Black Liberation
- African American Modernism and the Creation of the Modern Black Subject
- The sociopolitical concerns of Black Art and Musical Genres of Blues, Jazz, Bebop, and Hip Hop
- Harlem Renaissance Literature and Black Consciousness

The Department also requests sessions that invite alternate presentation formats such as performances, workshops, visual art exhibitions, roundtables, and multimedia presentations. Please submit by email abstracts and session proposals that do not exceed 200 words to Nancy W. Bookhart, Conference Chair at NBookhart@paine.edu or contact Mrs. Heba Elziebair, Administrative Assistant at 706-821-8326. The deadline for submission has been extended to September 15, 2020 at 11:59 pm EST.