OUR MOTHER’S GARDENS:
THE FUTURE OF BLACK WOMEN’S HISTORY

45th Anniversary Association of Black Women Historians Biennial Conference
December 5–7, 2024 | New Orleans

Additional details regarding the conference, such as hotel information, registration information, and program, will be added to this site at a future date.
Look for update announcements on ABWH social media.

Conference Overview

In the forty-five years since a small group of African American women met to formalize a professional network of Black women historians, the field of Black women’s history has exploded. The Association of Black Women Historians (ABWH) has been instrumental in transforming the field of history at every level. In celebration of the Association of Black Women Historians’ 45th Anniversary, we invite individual proposals that reflect the future direction of Black women’s history in the United States and throughout the African Diaspora for our 2024 biennial conference “Our Mothers’ Gardens: The Future of Black Women’s History” to be held in New Orleans on December 5–7, 2024.

In 2018, ABWH revived its symposium to mark its 40th anniversary with “Our Foremothers’ Keepers: The Art and Practice of Black Women’s History.” ABWH quickly gained a reputation as one of the premier gatherings in the field. In 2022, the ABWH symposium “Shining Threads and Heavy Loads, Where We Enter and When We Exhale: Black Women Making History” centered care work, labor, and leisure in the field of Black women’s history research and celebrated the legacies of seminal figures in the field of Black women’s history.

The 2024 Conference “‘Our Mothers’ Gardens’: The Future of Black Women’s History” not only explores the next generation of Black women’s history but also the challenges of doing Black women’s history. It is an intentional space created and curated by Black women, open to our meaningful participation and leadership and structured to support us and meet our needs. “‘Our Mothers’ Gardens’” is an important space to produce—and sustain—Black feminist scholarship, academic professionalism, social-justice activism, and radical self-care. 

In addition to an opening plenary, annual awards luncheon, and keynote, the conference will feature a student showcase and hands-on professionalization workshops with tracks for emerging scholars, junior faculty and early-career professionals, and senior faculty and professionals. 

Scholarly Panels

Scholars based outside of the United States, scholars whose work focuses on Africa and the African Diaspora, independent scholars, public historians, and undergraduate and graduate students are especially encouraged to submit abstracts. We are only accepting individual paper submissions to allow for a diverse and varied program. We invite individual paper abstracts within the following six themes:

“The Freedom of Africa”: Black Women in Africa and the Diaspora

The quote in the title comes from an oral history interview with human rights and Black nationalist leader Queen Mother Audley Moore (1898–1997). Topics related but not limited to:

Resistance and theory Intellectual history Black women and travel

Pan-Africanism Internationalism Transnational Black Feminism

“Jump at de Sun”: Black Women’s Joy, Pleasure, and Survival

The quote in the title comes from acclaimed Black novelist and anthropologist Zora Neal Hurston (1891–1960) where she recounted her mother’s exhortation to always aim high and take leaps of faith. Topics related but not limited to:

Art and expressive culture Sex and Sexualities Self-care Religion

Leisure Studies Music and Sonic Studies Play and pleasure The politics of love

The Master’s Tools?: Reshaping the Archive 

The quote in the title is inspired by the essay “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House” by writer, professor, feminist, and activist Audre Lorde (1934–1992). Topics related but not limited to:

Memory/heritage studies and memorialization Oral history and other methodologies Queer and Trans+ Theory

Collecting and collector culture Black feminist theory and the archive  Collection and production of historical knowledge

“Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired”: Care, Community, and Black Women’s Bodyminds

The quote in the title comes from a 1964 speech at Williams Institutional CME Church in Harlem by civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer (1917–1977). Topics related but not limited to:

Queer Studies Critical Disability Studies Science and medicine

Private and public racial sexual violence Reproductive justice and bodily autonomy Labor and health

“The Sure Foundation on Which We Must Build”: The Long History of Black Women’s Activism 

The quote in the title comes from a speech by Maria Stewart (1803–1879), the first native-born American woman to speak publicly and leave an extant record of her addresses. Topics related but not limited to:

Protest and resistance Civic and academic engagement Revolution and war Peace and reconciliation

Economic and social justice Labor, capitalism, and the political economy Environmental history and racism

“We Wrote Our Own Textbook”: Black Women, Innovation, and Technologies

The quote in the title comes from an oral history interview with mathematician and NASA employee Katherine Johnson (1918–2020) explaining how she helped develop knowledge about the mathematics of space. This session considers Black women as innovators in technology, digital studies, and popular culture. Topics related but not limited to:

Afrofuturism Black feminist digital humanities Material cultures Science and technology

Social media and Critical Media Studies Data creation and data management Digital ethics of care AI and digital inequities

Student Showcase

As in the past, we will amplify the work of undergraduate and graduate students in a showcased lightning round around the themes of social and economic justice. Lightning rounds feature shorter presentations in which presenters summarize their research projects. Like THATCamp, unconferences, and the three-minute thesis, the shorter format and supportive, low-pressure environment provide a welcoming introduction to scholarly conferences for less-experienced and emerging researchers. The format also accommodates digital history and digital humanities research, and it allows presenters to receive feedback from scholars across disciplines.

Please note that students may also be considered for inclusion on scholarly panels; their proposals are not limited to the showcase.

How to Submit a Proposal

Submit a proposal by completing the form at this link (or copy https://bit.ly/ABWH2024 in your browser). A copy of your submission will be emailed to the email address you provide in the form. Submit your paper proposals by 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday, August 31, 2024.

ABWH members and non-members may submit proposals. All conference participants must be or become members of ABWH before conference registration opens in mid-September. We have a limited number of small travel stipends available for students from under-resourced colleges and universities, contingent faculty, and non-U.S.-based scholars whose papers are accepted. More information will be provided to accepted presenters.

For questions, please email [email protected].

T. Dionne Bailey, National Publications Director
2024 ABWH Conference Program Chair