The Committee on Racial Justice welcomes entries that:
–outline a syllabus including writing by Margaret Fuller and explain how Fuller’s work fits into the semester’s aims, including support of racial justice.
–describe a classroom activity or series of exercises that use Fuller’s writing to teach to issues of racial justice.
–detail a paper assignment that focuses on racial justice and engages Fuller’s writing.
–plan a community project that addresses racial justice and Fuller’s writing.
–propose a nontraditional pedagogical approach to racial justice issues through Fuller’s writing.
We especially encourage entries that engage critical race theory. We welcome submissions from both members and non-members of the Society and urge graduate students to consider submitting.
Submission Requirements
Submissions should be limited to one page.
The winning submission, as judged by the Society’s Committee on Racial Justice, will receive a small monetary award and publication in Conversations, the newsletter of the Margaret Fuller Society. The award will be presented at the annual conference of the American Literature Association.
The Research Grant provides up to $500 to support scholarly work on Emerson. Preference is given to junior scholars and graduate students. Submit a confidential letter of recommendation, and a 1-2-page project proposal, including a description of expenses, by August 28, 2020.
The Pedagogy or Community Project Award provides up to $500 to support projects designed to bring Emerson to a non-academic audience. Submit a confidential letter of recommendation, and a 1-2-page project proposal, including a description of expenses, by August 28, 2020.
The Subvention Award provides up to $500 to support costs attending the publication of a scholarly book or article on Emerson and his circle. Submit a confidential letter of recommendation, and a 1-2-page proposal, including an abstract of the forthcoming work and a description of publication expenses, by August 28, 2020.
Please send proposals to Prentiss Clark (Prentiss [dot] Clark [at] usd [dot] edu) and Kristina West (kristina [dot] west [at] btopenworld [dot] com). Award recipients must become members of the Society; membership applications are available at http://www.emersonsociety.org.
The Ralph Waldo Emerson Society announces four awards for projects that foster appreciation for Emerson.
*Graduate Student Paper Award*
Provides up to $750 of travel support to present a paper on an Emerson Society panel at the American Literature Association Annual Conference (May 2019) or the Thoreau Society Annual Gathering (July 2019). Submit a 300-word abstract to David Greenham (david.greenham@uwe.ac.uk) by January 11, 2019. Abstracts should address the 2019 CFPs posted at emersonsociety.org.
*Research Grant*
Provides up to $500 to support scholarly work on Emerson. Preference given to junior scholars and graduate students. Submit a confidential letter of recommendation, and a 1-2-page project proposal, including a description of expenses, by April 1, 2019.
*Pedagogy or Community Project Award*
Provides up to $500 to support projects designed to bring Emerson to a non-academic audience. Submit a confidential letter of recommendation, and a 1-2-page project proposal, including a description of expenses, by April 1, 2019.
*Subvention Award*
Provides up to $500 to support costs attending the publication of a scholarly book or article on Emerson and his circle. Submit a confidential letter of recommendation, and a 1-2-page proposal, including an abstract of the forthcoming work and a description of publication expenses, by April 1, 2019.
Send Research, Pedagogy/Community, and Subvention proposals to:
At the recent American Literature Association 2018 Conference, Margaret Fuller Society Members Jana L. Argersinger and Noelle A. Baker presented Past President Phyllis Cole with the Inaugural Phyllis Blum Cole Award for Social Service. Read their speech presenting Cole with the award below.
Left to Right: Noelle Baker, Phyllis Cole holding award, and Jana Argersinger; Photo courtesy of Katie Kornacki
“Before we turn to other forward-looking matters, we should acknowledge our Past President for her inspiring leadership and immense drive, which have brought the Fuller Society into its second quarter-century.
As most of you know, Phyllis Cole in her three-year term directed a remarkable renovation of the Society. She leaves us a notable legacy: a greatly expanded membership and enhanced bank-account; a new, exciting website; a stimulating newsletter; Society presence on social media; a revised governance structure that reflects the new roles required by all these renovations; and renewed status at the annual MLA Convention.
In what I may hazard is perhaps the achievement dearest to her heart, Phyllis established the Society’s outreach into social action by forging a connection with the Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House in Cambridge, MA. You will recall that this community-based nonprofit with a century-old mission is housed in Fuller’s girlhood home. It serves to provide a wide variety of programs to underprivileged families and individuals in the community, while in the process serving as well to propagate Fuller’s social ideals.
To honor Phyllis‘s achievement and to keep the memory of it alive, the Executive Council has voted to establish the Phyllis Blum Cole Award for Social Service. The award will be given every three years to a Society Member that the Council recognizes as having worked in some significant way to promulgate the social ideals advanced by Margaret Fuller. It is to take the form of a donation to the Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House and a plaque to the recipient, engraved with one of Phyllis‘s favorite quotes from Fuller, taken from her December 1844 Tribune piece “Thanksgiving”: “No home can be healthful in which are not cherished seeds of good for the world at large.” As Fuller suggests in this article, the authentic spirit of that holiday is embodied in ever-widening acts of kindness and charity; these acts, in Fuller’s words, “depend upon the great circle” of family, neighbors, friends, and society. We thank Phyllis for setting the standard for our own circle.
It is my great pleasure to announce that the first recipient of this award is Phyllis Cole.”
Photo courtesy of Katie Kornacki
Featured image of Phyllis Cole holding award courtesy of Jana L. Argersinger.
We are happy to launch our new website, where you can find resources such as teaching materials and recent paper abstracts on Margaret Fuller’s life and works, see what’s happening in the news, and view upcoming events and calls for papers.
Take some time to read about a new digital humanities archive of Fuller’s travels in Italy and correspondence for the Tribune. Thanks to the hard work of Sonia Di Loreto and her team, this archive is now available and will be a useful teaching tool.
Browse posts about Fuller in recent news, and what Fuller society members have been doing to mark the historic location where Fuller wrote Woman in the Nineteenth Century.
