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Call for Papers

Our Goal:

When developing our conference program, our goal is to provide a balanced program that meets the variety of skill levels and interest levels of our audience, presented by speakers of the highest quality who represent the diversity of our membership.

Our Concurrent Sessions are the educational backbone of each year’s Annual Conference and vary from 60 to 90 minutes depending on the conference. Our speaker proposals fall in the following general session categories:

  • History
  • Genealogy
  • Research Methodologies
  • Chapter Capacity Building
  • Education
  • Scholarly Research
  • Community Resources/ Engagement

You may submit the same topic for each session type, if you desire. However, AAHGS expects the descriptions and learning objectives to be written specific to the session type and the interest of the audience.

Call for Paper Topics

For illustrative purposes only, general conference topics may include:  

  • Original Family and Community Historical Research
  • Research Methodology and Strategies
  • Best Research Practices in Family History
  • History of a community, village, city, and/or state
  • Efficient Use of Genealogy Websites and Software
  • Using Social Media for Genealogical Research
  • The Best Use of Records and Repositories
  • Effective Strategies for Researching, Writing, and Publishing Family Histories
  • Research, Identifying and Using Antebellum Plantation Records
  • Analysis of Colonial Records used for African American Genealogical Research 
  • Limitations and Future of DNA and Genetic Genealogical Research
  • Researching Church Membership Records
  • Cohabitation Records/Lists, Marriage Certificates, Bonds and Licenses
  • Gullah Culture and the Language
  • African Americans During Enslavement, Reconstruction, and the Civil Rights Movement
  • The Southern Sit-ins
  • African-American Labor, Migration, or Organizational History
  • Tracing and Mapping Family Histories Across the Color Line

Each conference host committee may suggest narrowly defined topics relevant to the conference theme or the AAHGS Mission.

 

Submission Guidelines

All submissions must include the following:

  • Presentation title and objectives;
  • Presentation summary: Description of presentation, not to exceed 50 words, for inclusion in program    brochure, on website, etc.;
  • Presenter’s biography: No more than 75-100 words, including historical and genealogical affiliations;
  • Presenter headshot: Recent 2” x 2” passport type photo, to be uploaded as a jpeg file; and
  • Presentation narrative: A 250-300 word description of proposed session, to include discussion of how it relates to the symposium’s theme, and a question that you or your panel will attempt to answer and/or a call to action.

All of the required information must be submitted online, in its entirety, in Microsoft Word format. Click on the red box above to submit a proposal.

AAHGS will provide:

  • An honorarium of $125 for each lecture or workshop session; if a presentation or workshop is conducted by more than one person, the honorarium will be divided among the presenters.
  • Complimentary Basic Registration (inclusive of the Conference Syllabus), and one complimentary lunch.
  • An LCD projector with standard laptop and standard projector-to-laptop connection/support. However, presenters using tablets must secure their own cables/connectivity. AAHGS cannot guarantee LCD projector-to-tablet connectivity, and encourages presenters to use laptops exclusively.
  • Internet access
  • Promotion of the presenter and their lecture in internal and external conference materials, as well as subject to consideration to the Conference Proceedings in the AAHGS Journal.

Conference speakers will:

  • Present for one hour, including built in time for questions and answers.
  • Provide engaging dialogue, sensitive to the learning needs of the adult learner.
  • Provide high quality electronic presentations that are clear and readable.
  • Provide their own laptop computers.
  • Provide helpful and educational handouts at their own expense, if desired.
  • Provide an assistant or presentation remote in order to advance slides during the presentation, if applicable.

Deadline

Proposals will be accepted no later than April  30th. 

Notifications of accepted Papers will be provided no later than May 15th.

If there are any questions, please email: callforpapers@aahgs.org