30th OI Annual Conference
June 17, 2027 - June 19, 2027
We are now accepting proposals for the 30th OI Annual Conference, to be held at Howard University, June 17-19, 2027. You can read more and submit your proposals via the link below.
Diasporas, Dreams, and Dominions in Vast Early America
The 30th Omohundro Institute Annual Conference will take place in Washington, DC, and be hosted by the History Department and Moorland Spingarn Research Center (MSRC) at Howard University from Thursday, June 17 to Saturday, June 19, 2027.
The program committee, co-chaired by Frederick C. Knight (Howard University) and Thomas A. Foster (Howard University), invites papers on all topics in vast early American history. Given our hosts, location, and conference theme—“Diasporas, Dreams, and Dominions in Vast Early America”—the committee would be especially interested in proposals that consider (either separately or as intermeshed problems) Black Atlantic/African Diaspora histories; African American histories; histories of slavery, abolition, and emancipation; Native and Indigenous histories; mid- Atlantic histories; public history; and historical memory (especially national narratives).
The committee especially encourages proposals for complete panels addressing a coherent subtheme or theoretical problem, made up of two or three presenters, a chair, and a commentator. We also welcome alternative modes of presentation, such as roundtable discussions, made up of four participants and one moderator to facilitate questions. Individual paper proposals will be considered as well, although we encourage those with individual paper proposals to first enter their name and paper title here in an effort to find co-presenters and form a full session before applying. Interested scholars should avail themselves of that forum to discuss topics, form panels, and air issues relating to proposals.
Please note that the program committee reserves the right to make changes in the configuration of panels.
To encourage wider participation and attendance, scholars may make only one appearance at the conference.
Proposals must be received electronically no later than Monday, December 6, 2026.
Panel proposals should be submitted by the organizer (who can be any of the panel participants) and include the following information: (1) a cover sheet that gives the panel title, a one-paragraph description of the panel, and a list of participants with each person’s role clearly stated (2) one-page summaries of each paper (3) one-page CVs for each participant. Each CV should include the participant’s preferred email address. The submission format is Last name.First name_Panel_Title of Session.
Roundtable proposals should be submitted by the organizer (who can be any of the roundtable participants) and include the following information: (1) a cover sheet that gives the roundtable title, a one-paragraph description of the roundtable, and a list of participants with each person’s role clearly stated (2) one-page CVs for each participant. Each CV should include the participant’s preferred email address. The submission format is Last name.First name_Roundtable_Title of Session.
Individual papers should be submitted with the following title format: Last name.First name_Paper_Title of Paper.
Submit all materials in PDF or Word format only.
All submissions will be acknowledged by email. If you do not receive an acknowledgement or have questions about the submission process, please contact the Omohundro Institute at oieach [at] wm.edu.