This conference brings together historians of the modern African American freedom struggle in the South and veterans associated with one of the region’s leading progressive organizations: the Southern Regional Council. Although the academic papers and roundtable discussions will focus primarily on the role of the SRC in the struggle for racial justice in the South from the 1940s to the 1970s, there will also be an opportunity to discuss the legacy and relevance of the organization for the South in the twenty-first century.
"Building the Future On the Fires of the Past," Charles S. Johnson, III (President of the Southern
Regional Council)
Saturday, October 25, 5.30 pm, Bivens South, Paramount Hotel, Gainesville
"Freedom in the Family," An Audience with Patricia Stephens Due (Florida Civil
Rights Activist and Co-author of Freedom in the Family: A Mother-Daughter
Memoir of the Fight for Civil Rights)
Thursday, October 23, 7.00pm, Arredondo Room, J. Wayne Reitz Union, University of Florida
"The SRC From Yesterday to Tomorrow," A Discussion Chaired by Luz Borrero (Executive Director of the Southern Regional Council)
Friday, October 24, 4.00 pm, Bivens South, Paramount Hotel, Gainesville
David Chappell (University of Arkansas, Fayetteville): “Southern Liberalism and Constitutional Equality.”
John Kirk (Royal Holloway & Bedford College, University of London): “Facilitating Change: The Arkansas Council on Human Relations and the Civil Rights Movement in Arkansas, 1954-1964.”
Matthew Lassiter (University of Michigan): “The Open Schools Revolt: The Southern Regional Council and the Construction of the Moderate South."
Timothy Minchin (University of St. Andrews): “The SRC and the Struggle for Equal Employment.”
Kimberly Nichols (University of Memphis): “Service for all Citizens: The SRC’s Operation Opportunity and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”
Robert J. Norrell (University of Tennessee, Knoxville): “Triangles of Change: The Southern Regional Council in the Civil Rights Movement.”
J. Douglas Smith (Occidental College): “'The Ordeal of Virginius Dabney': A Southern Liberal, the SRC, and the Limits of Managed Race Relations.”
Mort Sosna (Cornell University): “World War II, Democracy, and the South: The Birth of the SRC.”
Commentators
Jane Dailey (Johns Hopkins University)
Jack Davis (University of Florida)
Timothy Tyson (University of Wisconsin)
Robert Zieger (University of Florida)
Roundtable Participants
Julius Chambers
Jean Chalmers
Connie Curry
John Dorsey Due
Leslie Dunbar
Paul Gaston
Brownie Ledbetter
Lottie Shackleford
Steve Suitts
Allen Tullos
Please let us know if you wish to attend all or part of the Conference by October 10, 2003.
Conference Package A: $25.00 (includes registration and refreshments during session breaks).
Conference Package B: $90.00 (includes registration, refreshments during session breaks, receptions, lunches, and dinners).
Please make checks payable to University of Florida Foundation.
The academic and roundtable sessions will take place at the Paramount Hotel (see below).
The receptions, dinners and special events associated with the Conference will take place in the hotel, on the University of Florida campus, and at various locations around Gainesville. Further details will be available on arrival.
Special room rates ($79.00 plus applicable taxes) are available at the Paramount Hotel. When booking, please be sure to mention that you are attending the UF/SRC conference.
The Paramount Hotel,
2900, SW 13th Street,
Gainesville,
FL 32608
Tel: 352 377 4000
Fax: 352 371 1159
For more information please contact us at the Department of History, University of Florida, 025 Keene-Flint Hall, PO Box 117320, Gainesville, FL 32611-7320.
Bryan McFarland (Conference Secretary): bmcfar01@hotmail.com
Brian Ward (Conference Director): wardb@ufl.edu
Check out the University of Florida's Southern Regional Council Project Website