Annual Report of the Secretary-Treasurer
2023; Southern Historical Association; Volume: 89; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/soh.2023.0058
ISSN2325-6893
Autores Tópico(s)Nursing Education, Practice, and Leadership
ResumoAnnual Report of the Secretary-Treasurer Stephen Berry (bio) I noted in last year's official report that COVID had done something unseen since World War II—prevented the Southern from meeting in person. Our virtual meetings in 2020 and 2021 were herculean efforts that proved our values. I was keenly impressed by the adaptability and endurance, good humor and relevance of an Association now almost ninety years old. The presidents who guided us through the storm, Thavolia Glymph and Steven Hahn, deserve special praise. They rightly put the greatest good for the greatest number ahead of other considerations, and the virtual meetings they pulled together kept us all active and sane. There is no denying, however, that it was good to see everyone's face again in person in Baltimore last November. President Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore and her program team, chaired by Crystal N. Feimster and Stephen Kantrowitz, created one of the most diverse and compelling programs ever assembled, with an opening plenary on the historic assault on history education itself and another plenary on the backlash against and endurance of the 1619 Project, which featured Nikole Hannah-Jones and convened at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture. Thanks to Kelly Kennington, Whitney Stewart, Elijah Gaddis, and others, the Baltimore meeting also showcased several innovations, including a new first-time attendees reception, a mentoring match-up program, the Second Book Writers' Workshop, and perhaps the most critical innovation of all—our new "Public Square"—a learning commons in the exhibit space that allows local groups to display information and schedule presentations to share how public history is playing out on the ground in the cities we visit. At the end of the day, our Association supports history education in and of the South, full stop. Certainly that was the message of President Gilmore's presidential address, "The Past Before Us," which presented the stark challenges we face amid the epistemic threat of the un-remembering and mis-remembering of much of our past. And yet, I came away from the meeting, as usual, energized, happy for the good company, braced for whatever comes next, and recommitted to doing better. [End Page 333] The good news is that the Association is in good shape and prepared to take on the "past before us." In keeping with its expanded understanding of its own charge and the unprecedented challenges to history education in the South, the SHA Executive Council has dramatically supplemented the number of standing committees, all working to ensure that the SHA is not just the sponsor of a great journal and a great annual meeting but a 365-organization working year-round for its members and their goals. A new Communications Committee, headed by K. Stephen Prince, is overseeing the SHA's monthly eNewsletter along with its social media presence. A new Committee on Teaching, headed by Kathleen Hilliard, has been charged with creating a "teaching track" through the annual program and with working generally to make history educators outside of academe feel like equal partners in the Association. A new Committee on Professional Development, headed by Kelly Kennington, will expand on some of the programs she created as head of the Membership Committee, including the mentoring match-up program, the Second Book Writers' Workshop, and the Junior Scholars Workshop. (More information on these programs can be found at thesha.org/events-programs.) At our Baltimore meeting the SHA also debuted its new Committee on Professional Conduct, charged with helping the Executive Council enforce our Code of Professional Conduct. (You can find more information on this at thesha.org/code.) The Association is not only on sounder bureaucratic footing but on sounder financial footing as well. There is no denying that COVID took a bite. Two years without our usual registration receipts, coupled with the negotiations to get out of our contract in New Orleans, left our Association, which had been on the cusp of announcing new grant programs, suddenly reeling to meet basic obligations. Here again, the mantra of adapt and endure served us well. Our numbers in Baltimore, while slightly down from previous meetings, were in keeping with the experience of...
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