In commemoration of the centennial of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids (1925-2025), led by labor organizer and civil rights activist A. Phillip Randolph, Morgan State University, the Benjamin A. Quarles Humanities and Social Science Institute, the Department of English and Language Arts, The James H. Gilliam, Jr. College of Liberal Arts, and the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGST) Program proudly announce the second one-day WGST Graduate Symposium (WGST-GS). This symposium will take place at The National Treasure, Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, on April 3, 2025, from 8 a.m. – 7 p.m.

 Submit abstracts to: morganconferences@gmail.com

A significant milestone in African American labor history occurred in 1925 when the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids was established under the leadership of labor organizer and civil rights activist A. Philip Randolph. The Brotherhood became the first union to receive a charter from the American Federation of Labor. In the 1940s, the Brotherhood threatened a national demonstration in Washington, DC. To quell this effort, President Roosevelt conceded. In 1963, another national demonstration was launched in response to Randolph's call for jobs and justice.

Labor holds a central place in African American history and culture. African American labor played a crucial role in enriching European colonies and countries. African captives, forcibly brought to the western hemisphere, were subjected to chattel enslavement under a veneer of racial violence and discrimination, resulting in a cyclical racial and fiscal caste system that persists tacitly today. Despite these challenges, African Americans rebelled, utilizing their agency, thrift, vision, ability, knowledge, and talents to contribute vibrantly to valuable labor and entrepreneurial endeavors. Their fiscal and physical labor has been instrumental in building America—creating communities, establishing banks, schools, churches, civil organizations, the Black press, and countless other mechanisms for survival and global benefit. African Americans continue to create and leave a legacy, bequeathing to their progeny a robust heritage upon which to build.

The 2025 WGST-GS aims to explore the profound intersections of Afraicans and African Americans and labor from historical perspectives to the challenges and triumphs of the 21st century. We invite and encourage submissions that offer social, political, cultural, postcolonial, and other literary and theoretical views, with a specific focus on issues related to women, gender, race, and activism in labor.

• Historical perspectives on African and/or African Americans and labor from chattel enslavement to the present.
• The role of Black women in labor movements and activism.
• Intersectionality of race, gender, and labor in shaping communities and identities.
• Contributions of African and/or African Americans to entrepreneurial endeavors and economic development.
• Impact of labor activism on social and political change within the African American community, Africa, and the broader African Diaspora.
• The legacy of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids and A. Phillip Randolph's contributions to labor rights and civil rights.
• Critical assessment of labor in Black literary texts.
• A gendered critique of Black male and female labor in the US, Africa, and African Diaspora.
• Black entrepreneurship and building Black communities.
• Presentations of labor in poetic works from the African diaspora, African, and/or African American poets.
• An exploration of migration and black labor through lived experiences and literary works.
• Using social media as a domain for black labor and entrepreneurship.
• Unfair labor: media and “scamming” in America, Africa, and the African Diaspora.
• Entertainment, media, and sports as labor for Africans, the African diaspora, and African American males and females.

The 2025 WGST-GS theme “African Americans and Labor” intends to encourage broad reflections on intersections between black people’s work and their workplaces. Such considerations and reconsiderations are even more significant as the historical forces of racial oppressions gather new and renewed strength in the 21st century. We look forward to a day of scholarly exchange, collaboration, and reflection on the challenges and triumphs of the past, present, and future.

 SUBMIT YOUR ABSTRACTS TO: morganconferences@gmail.com

For inquiries, please contact the organizing committee at jacqueline.cozart@morgan.edu