2025 Pennsylvania Historical Association Annual Meeting: Rights, Reform, and Protest in the Mid-Atlantic

The Program Committee is excited to announce an extension of the deadline to May 15, 2025, as we work to gather a vibrant collection of panels and papers for what is shaping up to be an exceptional conference experience. We are thrilled about the outstanding guest speakers and the enriching local history programs that will be available to our attendees.

Call for Papers – 2025 Pennsylvania Historical Association Annual Meeting, York Pennsylvania, October 9-11, 2025

Exciting conference highlights include:

• Thursday Evening Opening Plenary: Peter Levy
  Peter Levy, historian and author of The Great Uprising: Race Riots in Urban America during the 1960s and The New Left and Labor in the 1960s, will offer a compelling discussion on the long-lasting impact of racial uprisings and labor movements in shaping the nation’s history.
• Friday Luncheon Speaker: Samantha Dorm
  A York County native and co-founder of the Friends of Lebanon Cemetery, Samantha Dorm has dedicated herself to preserving York’s Black history. Her recent project, Paved Over Prominence, utilizes Augmented Reality to recreate York’s lost Black built environment, ensuring the past remains accessible to future generations.
• Friday Banquet Speaker: Robert Parkinson
  Robert Parkinson, author of The Common Cause: Creating Race and Nation in the American Revolution, Thirteen Clocks: How Race United the Colonies and Made the Declaration of Independence, and Heart of American Darkness: Bewilderment and Horror on the Early Frontier, will offer fresh insights into the intersections of race and revolution in early America.
• Local History Experiences
  The York County History Center will be offering free tours of the Colonial Complex and the new museum to PHA attendees on:
  • Thursday, October 9 | 2:00 – 4:00 PM
  • Saturday, October 11 | 12:00 – 4:00 PM

Call For Papers

The Program Committee for the 2025 annual meeting of the Pennsylvania Historical Association invites proposals that explore the theme of “Rights, Reform, and Protest in the Mid-Atlantic.” As we approach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we’ll gather on October 9-11, 2025 in York, Pennsylvania—a city that hosted the Continental Congress during the British occupation of Philadelphia. Our theme encourages a broad examination of how the struggles for rights, reform, and protest have shaped revolutionary change across the history of the region.

From the American Revolution to the present day, the Mid-Atlantic has been a crucible for movements that challenge authority, expand civil liberties, and inspire transformative social change. We invite proposals that consider these movements across all historical eras, focusing on the roles of individuals and communities in advocating for political, economic, and social reforms. This includes, but is not limited to, studies of revolutionary activity during the 18th century, civil rights movements, industrialization and labor protests, suffrage campaigns, environmental advocacy, and other efforts where calls for rights and reform fueled protests and shaped the course of history.

The Program Committee encourages submissions that explore this theme through diverse lenses, including political, social, and cultural history, public policy, legal studies, and other interdisciplinary perspectives. We are particularly interested in sessions that highlight underrepresented voices and examine how various groups in the Mid-Atlantic—whether defined by race, class, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or political affiliation—have used protest and reform to claim rights and challenge systems of power.

In addition to this theme, we welcome submissions on all aspects of Pennsylvania and Mid-Atlantic history. Submissions from all disciplinary backgrounds, including but not limited to history, economic and community development, public policy, sociology, visual culture, and political science, are welcomed. Graduate students are especially encouraged to submit proposals. The PHA also supports student engagement with a research session featuring posters and multimedia projects on all aspects of Mid-Atlantic history.

Submit a Proposal

Full session proposals are preferred, but individual papers will also be considered. All program participants must be members of the PHA at the time of the annual meeting. Deadlines for paper, panel, and roundtable submissions will close on (now) May 15, 2025. We are accepting student poster and multimedia proposals through May 15, 2025.