The objective of this project is organize a two-day conference to bring together researchers who have been studying how African Americans fared economically in the postbellum South with researchers who have been studying how African Americans fared in the early twentieth century North. The conference will explore links between these two areas of research in order to increase understanding of the economic progress of African Americans during the period between Emancipation and World War II. Both historians and economists will be participating in the conference, including African-American scholars from the historically black colleges. The papers presented at the conference will set out the latest research findings in these areas and will be included in an edited conference volume.
