May 17, 18, and 19, 2007 at the Terry Sanford Institute for Public Policy, Duke University

Join us for an innovative dialogue on current issues facing the working class and their allies. This conference will bring together scholars, students, social justice and union activists, policy makers and rank-and-file workers to explore the connections between contemporary challenges facing the working class and their historical context. This gathering aims to enhance personal and organizational ties between those engaged in ongoing workplace and community organizing efforts and students and scholars whose work documents the long history of activism in the United States.

The key thematic areas for the conference will be:

• The New Working Class: Public Sector and Service Workers

• Farm Labor & Immigration

• Organizing Outside the Workplace

• Environmental Justice

• Intellectuals\' Role in Labor Struggles

Five plenary sessions featuring round-table discussions among an academic, an activist, a policy maker and a rank-and-file worker, will each address one of the conference themes. Panels, documentary presentations, and cultural programs will further explore the issues raised in the plenary sessions.

The LAWCHA/Southern Labor Studies Program Committee invites submissions of paper and panel proposals broadly related to the conference theme and plenary topics. The Committee prefers proposals of complete panels, but will accept single paper proposals.

LAWCHA encourages proposals that are interdisciplinary in nature, include public historians and activists as well as academics, take creative approaches, and that will speak meaningfully to those both inside and outside the academy.

Proposals for sessions should include: a one-page summary of the session as a whole; a one-page abstract of each paper; a brief curriculum vitae of each participant.

Please be sure to include contact information for each participant including name, title, institution or affiliation (please indicate if
independent), mailing address, contact phone number and e-mail address.

Contact Information:
Submissions are due January 15th.

Please address proposals and papers to:
Labor and Working Class History Association
Box 90239
Sanford Institute of Public Policy
Duke University
Durham, NC 27708
(919) 613-7399
lawcha@duke.edu

LAWCHA Conference Travel Grants for Graduate Students

The Labor and Working-Class History Association is delighted to announce another round of travel grants designed to facilitate graduate student participation in labor history conferences taking place during 2007. The award will facilitate participation in either the LAWCHA-Southern Labor Studies conference, titled “Working Class Activism in the South and the Nation: Contemporary Challenges in Historical Context” (Duke University, Durham, NC; May 17-19, 2007), or the annual North American Labor History Conference (Wayne State University, Detroit; October 2007).

Proposals including 1-2 page abstracts, choice of conference, and a brief vita must be received via email or at the address below no later than March 31, 2007. Grants will be in the range of $250 and will be judged by the LAWCHA Prize Committee (Kevin Boyle of Ohio State University, Lisa Fine of Michigan State University, and Laurie Mercier of Washington State University). All graduate student proposals chosen for inclusion in the conference programs will be considered by the committee for travel grant support, but funds will only allow support for a maximum of three or four graduate student participants. Recipients should be graduate students at the time of the 2007 North American Labor History Conference. Consideration shall be on the basis of the paper proposal and vita.

Contact Information:

Please address proposals and papers to:
Labor and Working Class History Association
Box 90239
Sanford Institute of Public Policy
Duke University
Durham, NC 27708
(919) 613-7399
lawcha@duke.edu

LAWCHA Minority Graduate Student Conference Travel Award

The Labor and Working-Class History Association (LAWCHA) will offer at least one travel award to support the participation of a minority graduate student in a labor history conference in 2007. The award will facilitate participation in either the LAWCHA-Southern Labor Studies conference, titled “Working Class Activism in the South and the Nation: Contemporary Challenges in Historical Context” (Duke University, Durham, NC; May 17-19, 2007), or the annual North American Labor History Conference (Wayne State University, Detroit; October 2007).

Proposals including 1-2 page abstracts, choice of conference, and a brief vita must be received via email or at the address below no later than March 31, 2007. Grants will be in the range of $250 and will be judged by the LAWCHA Prize Committee (Kevin Boyle of Ohio State University, Lisa Fine of Michigan State University, and Laurie Mercier of Washington State University). All minority graduate student proposals chosen for inclusion in the conference programs will be considered by the committee for travel grant support, but funds may not allow for support of all minority graduate student participants. The recipient must be a current graduate student at the time of the conference presentation. Consideration shall be on the basis of the paper proposal and vita. The committee requests that candidates indicate minority status at their own discretion.

Contact Information:

Minority graduate students should send their proposals and papers to:
Labor and Working Class History Association
Box 90239
Sanford Institute of Public Policy
Duke University
Durham, NC 27708
(919) 613-7399
lawcha@duke.edu

DEADLINE: MARCH 31, 2007

LAWCHA – North American Labor History Conference Graduate Research Essay Prize

The Labor and Working-Class History Association is delighted to announce its annual graduate research paper award competition. The award\'s purpose is to stimulate research in working class history and to recognize outstanding work by a young scholar in the field. The award includes a check for $500, a certificate, and inclusion of the paper in the program of the North American Labor History Conference (NALHC) in Detroit, October 2007.

The award committee (Kevin Boyle of Ohio State University, Lisa Fine of Michigan State University, and Laurie Mercier of Washington State University) solicits either direct submissions or faculty nominations of substantial original research papers of approximately 35 pages in length (not MA theses or dissertation chapters), regardless of geographic or chronological field. The candidate for the award must be a graduate student at the time of the conference.

Contact Information:

Four hard copies of each paper should be mailed to:
Labor and Working Class History Association
Box 90239
Sanford Institute of Public Policy
Duke University
Durham, NC 27708
(919) 613-7399
lawcha@duke.edu

DEADLINE: March 31, 2007 (Papers received after this date cannot be considered.)