Via H-Law, we have the following
announcement:
Civil Rights Act of 1964 Research Grant and Call for Papers
The Center for the Study of Southern Culture (CSSC) and the Southern
Foodways Alliance at the University of Mississippi announce a $1,000
research grant to catalyze scholarship on the Civil Rights Act of 1964
and the desegregation of Southern restaurants. The grant of $1,000 is
payable in two parts: $500 upon assignment and $500 on the delivery by
March 3, 2014, of a scholarly article based on the completed research.
The article will undergo the peer-review process, and the Center for the
Study of Southern Culture will have first publication rights for the
article—planned for the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act—after
which the scholar may use it as he or she desires.
The
announcement continues:
When President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on July 2 of
that year, he leveraged the power of the federal government to
desegregate restaurants and other places of public accommodation. In the
wake of that decision, some operators transformed their business into
key clubs, private restaurants where admission was determined by skin
color. Others staged public protests and fought unsuccessful legal
battles through the federal courts. Others still acquiesced and
acknowledged the absurdity of a system wherein black employees often
cooked for white customers in white-owned restaurants where they could
not, in turn, eat.
Much has changed in the 50 years that followed. Restaurants desegregated
by law, if not by practice. Some African American restaurants, which
had leveraged the dictates of segregation to claim a constituency, went
out of business. Many restaurants, especially those geared to a
middle-class and upper-middle-class clientele, have resegregated based
on class.
Among the questions we hope researchers might ask are: 1) How did the
public accommodations clause affect restaurants in the South,
particularly those businesses owned by African Americans? 2) How and why
did key clubs perpetuate segregated dining in 1964 and onward? 3) If
some restaurants segregated by race until 1964, how do restaurants
segregate clientele now, and what can that tell us about civic life in
the 21st century?
To apply for the grant, please send a CV along with a cover letter of no
more than 500 words that includes a preliminary research plan to: Sara
Camp Arnold, Southern Foodways Alliance, Barnard Observatory, P.O. Box
1848, University, MS 38677; or e-mail materials to
saracamp@southernfoodways.org. Applications are due on September 3,
2013, and the successful candidate will be notified by September 16.
CSSC expects that the successful candidate will be an advanced graduate
student or professional scholar in a field such as history, American
studies, African American studies, or sociology.
For reference, Title II of the Act, “Injunctive Relief against
Discrimination in Places of Public Accommodation,” reads, in part:
SEC. 201.
(a) All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the
goods, services, facilities, and privileges, advantages, and
accommodations of any place of public accommodation, as defined in this
section, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race,
color, religion, or national origin.
(b) Each of the following establishments which serve the public is a
place of public accommodation within the meaning of this title if its
operations affect commerce, or if discrimination or segregation by it is
supported by State action:
(1) any inn, hotel, motel, or other establishment which provides
lodging to transient guests, other than an establishment located within a
building which contains not more than five rooms for rent or hire and
which is actually occupied by the proprietor of such establishment as
his residence;
(2) any restaurant, cafeteria, lunchroom, lunch counter, soda
fountain, or other facility principally engaged in selling food for
consumption on the premises, including, but not limited to, any such
facility located on the premises of any retail establishment; or any
gasoline station;
For more information, follow the
link.
