“Crossroads of Resistance”

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

September 19-22, 2024

Program

New in 2024 - participate in a New Directions Workshop!

Click here for the final program!

Registration Information

Registration is live! Click here to register now!

• Please use "Regular Registration" for all full-time academics and professional practitioners.
• Please use "Discounted Registration" for adjunct faculty, students, volunteers, and unemployed participants only.

All registrations include most meals: coffees, continental breakfasts, box or buffet lunches, the Friday evening banquet at The Read House, and the Saturday evening plenary reception.

Sponsors

Department of History, College of Arts and Sciences, Honors College, and Division of Academic Affairs, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Justice Studies Program, University of New Orleans

B. Phinizy Spalding Distinguished Professor of History and Department of History, University of Georgia

Department of History and Carlos H. Cantu Hispanic Endowment Fund, Texas A&M University

Labor and Working-Class History Association

Department of History, Texas State University

Department of American Studies, 

University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Lodging

We have reserved a block of rooms for conference participants at The Read House. You may book a room now at http://bookings.ihotelier.com/bookings.jsp?groupID=4130230&hotelID=97530 or enter the discount code “SLSA24.” Rates are $139 for Thursday night and $179 per night for Friday and Saturday (plus taxes). Availability is limited, so book your room today! The room block closes on August 29--book today!

Tours & Activities

The UTC History Department is excited to welcome SLSA conference attendees to Chattanooga, and will be sponsoring four free outdoor activities on the afternoon of Thursday, September 19^th. See the activity descriptions and details here.

Please reserve your spot by emailing Michael-D-Thompson@utc.edu by Friday, August 30

Conference Location

Most conference activities will take place on the campus of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC), located just blocks from the Tennessee Riverwalk, the Bluff View Art District, downtown restaurants, and historic MLK Blvd. The Guerry Center, home to UTC’s Honors College, will host breakout sessions, film screenings, and performances, and attendees will convene for a plenary and reception at the university’s newly renovated Fine Arts Center. Discounted hotel accommodations will be available at Chattanooga’s historic Read House, where we will gather for a buffet dinner and keynote address. Known as the Scenic City, Chattanooga offers conference attendees opportunities to hike, bike, kayak, and rock climb, as well as abundant restaurants, breweries, shops, and historic sites.

Conference Theme

In 2024 SLSA will convene in Chattanooga at a pivotal moment for Southern workers, a crossroads between rising reaction and potential for radical change. The combination of Chattanooga’s history as a strategic transportation junction and a locus of Southern labor resistance inspires our conference theme of “Crossroads of Resistance.” 

At this site of convergence and departure, SLSA seeks explorations of geographical, generational, and organizational exchanges in the lives of Southern working people—past, present, and future. SLSA’s mission is to bring together a broad, diverse array of scholars, thinkers, organizers, and other activists working at the crossroads of academic disciplines and beyond the ivory tower, including dialogues among folks in the labor movement, community organizing, journalism, and the arts. We welcome scholars whose work engages many Souths– Black, white, people of color, Indigenous, Queer, and recent migrants. Click here for the full call for papers.