MLA 2027 - Just-in-Time Session Proposal

Conference Date: January 7 to 10, 2027. 
Location: (Los Angeles, CA)
Submission Deadline: (August 17th, 2026)

TITLE: Many Stories, One History: Re-examining the Diverse Coalition of the American Revolution

As the United States marks its 250th anniversary, contemporary historical scholarship and print culture continue to demonstrate that the Revolutionary War was a global event won by a diverse network of international allies and marginalized populations. This Just-in-Time panel proposal aims to explore the multifaceted nature of the American Revolution by highlighting the diverse people, nations, and geographical regions whose participation fundamentally shaped the outcome of the conflict by examining texts, archival records, and primary sources that document these contributions.

We welcome individual papers that examine written traces of the Revolution that reveal a truer, much more complex story of 1776. Topics may include but are not limited to:

• Transnational and national correspondence and diplomacy—an analysis of letters, dispatches, and proposals exchanged between American leaders, immigrant Jews, and foreign officials that shaped early American identity.

• Women’s voices in the textual record—an analysis of personal or third-person accounts, diaries, or oral histories written or dictated during the conflict

• Indigenous nations and divided loyalties—an analysis of strategic choices (support of the Rebels or the British), contributions, and military units of Native American allies, as well as the geopolitical impacts of the war on Native lands.

• Black Americans and the paradox of liberty—an analysis of the experiences and roles of free and enslaved African Americans serving in integrated northern regiments, state militias, or British forces.

• The American Revolution in global print culture—an analysis of how European, Caribbean, and Latin American newspapers, pamphlets, and military logs recorded the American conflict as a widening global war.

• The evolving historiography and literature of the American Revolution—an analysis of how historical texts, textbooks, and historical fiction have omitted or integrated the contributions of diverse populations—domestic or foreign—over the last 250 years.

Just-in-Time Participant Requirements

Submission Guidelines

Proposals must include an abstract of no more than 300 words and a brief curriculum vitae (1–2 pages).

Abstracts should explicitly state the primary texts, archival collections, or methodologies that will be utilized in the presentation.

Please send all submissions in a single PDF document to (kdworkin@andrew.cmu.edu) by midnight, Monday, August 17th.

Just-in-Time proposal checklist (please read):

• The proposal is for a complete session with confirmed participants. An individual presentation or a proposal without confirmed participants is not a complete session.

• The organizer and all participants must be MLA members by 14 September.

• The organizer and all participants must register for the convention.

• Participants may not already appear on the program more than once.

• No more than two participants (including the session presider and respondent) may be from the same institution unless the institution itself is a key aspect of the session.