The ninety-ninth Annual Meeting of the Organization of American Historians and the twenty-eighth Annual Meeting of the National Council on Public History will be held jointly at the Hilton Washington Hotel in Washington, D.C., April 19-22, 2006. The program committee invites proposals from all practitioners of American history or related disciplines. The program theme Our America/Nuestra Ameríca invites participants to explore the many meanings of “America” for people living in North America and beyond. Touching on the concept of Nuestra Ameríca as articulated by nineteenth-century Cuban poet and patriot José Martí, the program committee encourages sessions that expand the definition of “America” beyond borders and across bodies of water, and to engage in debates about the place of the United States in the Western hemisphere and the world. The committee welcomes sessions that explore the transformation of U.S. society through immigration to and migration within the geopolitical boundaries of the nation-state. Have questions of identity become more complicated and have North American identities changed in the wake of September 11th? How are people shaped by transregional and transnational bonds, globalization, family ties, and how do they define a sense of belonging and a sense of themselves as Americans?

The committee solicits panels and papers that generate conversations across time and region, examining how individuals and institutions have constructed communities, values, and political or social movements based on their own particular interpretations of American identity and memory from the colonial borderlands to the present. Sessions that examine U.S. history as public and private memory are encouraged. The practices and politics of public history and the use of oral narratives will be highlighted. The committee invites proposals for panels, workshops, roundtables, and performances, onsite and offsite and from all disciplinary and interdisciplinary specializations including politics, international relations, gender, sexuality, religion, labor, society, culture, race, ethnicity, and the environment. In addition to proposals that explore the conference theme, we welcome submissions that explore other issues and themes in American history.

Teaching sessions are also welcome, particularly those involving the audience as active participants or those that reflect collaborative partnerships among teachers, historians, and other history educators. Topics may cover any pedagogical issue or technique, at any level, from K-12 through postsecondary. We prefer to receive proposals for complete sessions but will consider individual proposals as well.

We encourage presenters to break away from the conventional academic session format. The committee recognizes the importance of engaging the audience in a compelling manner, and envisions a conference that is dynamic, innovative, and interactive. Meeting participants are therefore encouraged to present or teach their material rather than read their papers aloud. We also encourage proposals for online sessions, roundtables, debates, poster sessions, visual and musical performances, workshops, films, and other appropriate formats. Session lengths may vary from one to three hours and proposers should specify the desired time frame for their panels.

Although we encourage proposals for entire sessions, the program committee will accept proposals for individual presentations and make every effort to place those presentations on the program. The committee will work to have the program represent the full diversity of the OAH and the NCPH memberships. We urge proposers who submit sessions, wherever possible, to include presenters of both sexes, members of ethnic and racial minorities, independent scholars, public historians, and American historians from outside the U.S. We also encourage panels that include a mix of junior scholars, senior academics, and graduate students; as well as a mix of four- and two-year college professors and precollegiate teachers.

Submission Procedure
Proposals should be submitted electronically beginning October 1, 2004, at the web address given below. Complete session proposals must include a chair, participants, and, if applicable, one or two commentators. All proposals must include the following information:

1. a complete mailing address, email, phone number, and affiliation for each participant;
2. an abstract of no more than 500 words for the session as a whole;
3. a prospectus of no more than 250 words for each presentation; and
4. a vita of no more than 500 words for each participant. Each participant is required to register online and update his/her biographical and presentation information. Questions about electronic submissions should be emailed to the meetings department.

We also welcome volunteers to act as chairs or commentators to be assigned by the program committee. Interested volunteers should email meetings department no later than January 15, 2005.

All proposals must be received no later than January 15, 2005 at the above website.

Participation in Consecutive Annual Meetings
The Program Committee encourages participation by people who have not presented at the previous annual meeting. Individuals may appear only once on the program.

Membership Requirements
All participants must register for the meeting. Participants who specialize in American history and support themselves as American historians are also required to be members of the OAH or the NCPH. Participants representing other disciplines do not have to be members.

2006 Program Committee
Matt Garcia, Brown University, Cochair
Martin Blatt, Boston National Historic Park, Cochair
Sharon Block, University of California, Irvine
Steven Lubar, Brown University
Robert May, Purdue University
Michele Mitchell, University of Michigan
Jannelle Warren-Findley, Arizona Sate University
Kenneth Wong, Quinsigamond Community College