October 14-15, 2011

We invite proposals that cover any aspect of workplace integration in the post-World War II era, with a preference for papers dealing with the period 1960-1990. Suggested themes include, but are not limited to, voluntary government-business partnerships such as Plans for Progress and the National Alliance of Business, government action including the origins and development of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and race and organized labor. We expect to publish an edited volume of the best essays from the conference.

The conference is multidisciplinary and seeks proposals from a variety of fields, including history, sociology, management, economics, labor studies, and any other relevant discipline.

Please send a one-page paper proposal in electronic format to Randall Patton, Department of History & Philosophy, rpatton@kennesaw.edu. Proposal deadline: August 17, 2011. Deadline for completed draft papers: Oct. 1, 2011.

Background and Context

In March 1961, President Kennedy issued Executive Order 10925, directing government contractors “to take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during their employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin.” Within days, the Georgia branch of the Lockheed aircraft manufacturing company became embroiled in a controversy over the continuation of regional patterns of racial segregation. Lockheed-Georgia had just received a contract from the Defense Department for the new C-141 Starlifter, a contract that was crucial for the continued existence of thousands of jobs with the largest manufacturing employer in the southeastern United States. Out of that controversy, Lockheed and the federal government signed a “Plan for Progress” that committed the firm to developing an affirmative action plan to increase minority hiring, training, retention, and promotion to overcome years of past discrimination.

Over the succeeding fifty years, American business has helped shape, and been shaped by, increasing diversity in the workplace. This conference will examine the origins and development of workplace integration from the 1960s to the present day. The close proximity of Lockheed, a key player in the evolution of corporate diversity policies from its arrival in Georgia in 1951, makes Kennesaw State University a logical location for such a conference. The KSU Archives also houses the Gordon/Kruse/Wentzel Collection, which may be of interest to authors preparing papers. For more information on the collection, see http://archon.kennesaw.edu/?p=collections/controlcard&id=197 .

A conference website is in the works.

Contact Randall L. Patton, Kennesaw State University, rpatton@kennesaw.edu, for more details.