Lindsey Chavers
Sep 27 2006 12:00AM
The Gulf South History and Humanities Conference will be hosted this year by PJC, the only community college represented in the Gulf South History Association. The conference will take place at the Hilton Garden Inn on Pensacola Beach, Oct 5-7.
Admission is $20 for students and $35 for general admission, with an extra $35 charge for the banquet held on Friday.
“We expect a lot of people to come,” said Susan Morgan, chair of the department of history, languages, and philosophy. Morgan is in charge of accommodations, menus, and other set up. “People love to come to Pensacola Beach.”
The conference was founded in 1968 in order to expand the knowledge of history and research in this geographic area.
“It is an opportunity for people in our area who are interested in history to attend for a reasonable rate,” said Randall Broxton, history professor, coordinator of the conference at PJC, and one of the original founders of the association.
At the banquet, two awards will be given. One award, called the William S. Coker award, is given to a graduate student with the best paper. The other is a book award given to a person who writes the best book about Gulf South history. There is also a guest speaker. This year, Dr. Tracy Jean Revels from Wofford College in Wakulla Springs, Florida, will speak about “More than a man’s courage: Florida’s Gulf Coast Women and the Civil War.”
Throughout the three days of the conference there will be many different sessions and speakers, all pertaining to southern history. This year, much of the focus will be on hurricanes, war, commerce and opportunity for growth in the southern area, according to the agenda.
More than 80 speakers and presenters are expected to attend. One stand-out is Richard Follett from the University of Sussex in England. He will be speaking about race and labor in the sugar cane fields in Louisiana. Dr. Barbra Wall, a noted speaker from the University of Pennsylvania, will give a presentation about the history of disaster nursing. Kevin M. Brady, from the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, will speak about how NASA impacted the southern states during the 1960s.
“[This conference] is a time for sharing,” said Broxton. “People get a chance to meet the authors of the books that they have read, and I think it’s a wonderful opportunity.”