Lemon Project & 50-Year Commemoration Symposium: Building on the Legacy
Desegregating Higher Education in Virginia: William and Mary in Historical Context
William & Mary
8th Annual Lemon Project Spring Symposium
In Collaboration with the 50-Year Commemoration of African Americans in Residence
2018
Desegregating Higher Education in Virginia: William and Mary in Historical Context
March 16th - 17th, 2018
About Us
“The Lemon Project is a multifaceted and dynamic attempt to rectify wrongs perpetrated against African Americans by the College through action or inaction. An ongoing endeavor, this program will focus on contributing to and encouraging scholarship on the 324-year relationship between African Americans and the College, and building bridges between the College and Williamsburg and Greater Tidewater area.” For more information www.wm.edu/lemonproject
The 50-Year Commemoration of African Americans in Residence recognizes and celebrates that “Black students, faculty, staff and administrators have made and continue to make considerable contributions to William & Mary and have been instrumental in helping the university build on the legacy of the three women being honored this year as well as earlier Black students who were admitted but not residential.” For more information http://www.wm.edu/sites/50/building_on_the_legacy/index.php
Call for Proposals
During the 2017-2018 academic year, William & Mary commemorates 50 years of African Americans in Residence. As a result, The Lemon Project: A Journey of Reconciliation and the 50-Year Commemoration of African Americans in Residence Committee are teaming up for “Desegregating Higher Education in Virginia: William and Mary in Historical Context.” As the first three women to live on campus at William & Mary were moving in, other colleges and universities in Virginia were experiencing similar change. What were their stories? What was their process? How did they keep moving forward? This symposium seeks to provide scholars, non-scholars, community members, students, and others a platform from which to share their research or their lived experiences on these chaotic and revolutionary times that opened doors and minds.
We seek papers that address and confront topics surrounding the desegregation of higher education in Virginia from both historical and modern perspectives. We encourage presenters to engage a wide range of methodologies and fields, such as American Studies, anthropology, history, oral history, government, and gender studies. Possible topics include but are not limited to: The Negro Education Grants, social justice, the impact of desegregation on historically black colleges and universities, developing infrastructure for a more diverse student body, student activism, student life, NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Higher Education, response of the administration, on campus what’s next?
