2018 NCHE Conference

After the murder of President John F. Kennedy, the people of Dallas, stung that some were calling theirs the “city of hate,” debated the fate of the Texas School Book Depository, the building from which Kennedy’s assassin had fired the fatal bullet. Some, hoping to blur out the bloody memory of November 23, 1963, called for its destruction. Others worked successfully to make of it the Sixth Floor Museum. Today visitors often are powerfully moved as they relive details of that terrible day and revisit theories that still spark controversy. In that museum, as in thousands of other sites across the country, Americans struggle to understand how our emotional connection to the past and our intellectual understanding of it continually inform and shape one another.

History and memory overlap, and when they do, they provide a fascinating field of study—one that has garnered growing attention as of late. The 2018 NCHE Conference Myth, Memory, and Monuments seeks to explore the history of how people have remembered the past, how they have used those memories to express their beliefs and values, and how memories have become the tussling ground of different peoples and different members of a society. Texas, the site of our 2018 meeting, is a place rich with examples of contested memories. We will gather at a spot less than a mile from the Alamo. To many Texans it is a sacred monument honoring courageous martyrs in the revolution of 1836. Hispanics, however, might see it as part of one of the most painful tragedies in the history of Mexico. African Americans might remember the army of General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna as a liberating force marching to end slavery on Mexico’s northern frontier, while descendants of Texas’s Indian peoples might recall the Alamo’s original purpose—a Roman Catholic mission that was a beachhead of empire.

Every place is layered with memories and myths that are often historical actors in their own right. NCHE conference presentations may explore a question like who guides the process of remembering and towards what ends? How does commemoration actually shape our society and culture? And how does remembrance carry knowledge and tradition from one generation to another?

The National Council for History Education invites proposals on the theme “Myth, Memory, and Monuments” for the 2018 National Conference. All proposals will be evaluated on the basis of their intellectual content, their ability to engage the audience, and their overall contribution to the teaching of history.

Submit a Session Proposal!

The 2018 Call for Proposals, containing topic suggestions and submission details, will be available at www.nche.net/conference.

Submission deadline is: October 16, 2017

Questions? Please contact John Csepegi by phone (240) 696-6612 or by email (john@nche.net).