Conference Program  [revised-03-16-10] Conference Registration  Plenary Speakers and Program Schedule Conference Tours Conference Hotel  [Deadline: March 25] Message Board Travel Information SSSL Website

    Conference Registration Graduate Student and Independent Scholar Rate:
*before February 15--$40
*after February 15--$50
Please use the following link for electronic registration for the conference: https://www.acteva.com/go/sssl
You can also visit the Acteva website and search for "SSSL": http://www.acteva.com/attendee.html


  Plenary Speakers and Program Schedule

• Thadious Davis, Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and Professor of English, University of Pennsylvania
• "Writing in Hard Times, Adjusting to Schizophrenia after the American Century"
  
• Friday, April 9, 9:45 a.m.
• Cristina Garcia, Author of Dreaming in Cuban and The Aguero Sisters
• A Reading
• Thursday, April 8, 7:00 p.m.
• Walter Johnson, Winthrop Professor of History and Professor of African and African American Studies, Harvard University
• "The Carceral Landscape: Slaves, Fields, Forests, Swamps, Horses, and Dogs"
• Friday, April 9, 7:00 p.m., Loyola University
  
• Kalamu ya Salaam, poet, playwright, editor, music producer, activist
• Title TBA
• Saturday, April 10, 5:00 p.m.
  
• Cherice Harrison-Nelson, musician and performance artist
• "If You Don't Like What the Big Queen Says, Just . . ."
• Saturday, April 10, 6:00 p.m.

Conference presentations and panels will begin at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 8; the conference will conclude on Sunday, April 11 at 11 a.m. A preliminary conference schedule will be posted on the website by February 15.


Optional SSSL Tours
All tour prices include a non-refundable processing fee of $3. If any tour does not receive sufficient registrants, we reserve the right to cancel the tour and refund participants' payments, less the fee charged by Acteva.

Thursday morning tours (April 8) 
1. Evergreen Plantation Tour (approximately 5 hours)
    8:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
    Price: $43 per person
Travel by minivan or bus to Evergreen Plantation, about an hour upriver from New Orleans. Evergreen is the most intact plantation complex in the South with 37 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, including 22 slave cabins. Today it remains a privately-owned, working sugar cane plantation. The 1½ hour on-site tour highlights 250 years of family ownership, architectural significance, and agricultural history. Emphasis is placed on the plantation's dependence on the labor of slaves and later freed African-Americans. After visiting the plantation, the tour bus will stop at a local restaurant where a light lunch will be available for purchase. 
2.  Literary Walking Tour of the French Quarter (approximately 2 hours)
     10:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
     Price: $23 per person
Originally created by southern literary scholar and French Quarter resident, Dr. Kenneth Holditch, this tour will take you on foot into the streets of the French Quarter with a well-versed and entertaining guide. You will see the sights and sites that inspired the writing of Faulkner, Williams, Cable, Anne Rice and many others, while hearing fascinating details about their lives and experiences in New Orleans. 
3. Walking Tour of Antebellum Slave Sites (approximately 2 hours
    10:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
    Price: $23 per person
Walter Johnson, author of Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market, will lead this tour to the sites of New Orleans's antebellum slave markets. Focusing on an aspect of New Orleans history that has been largely ignored, Professor Johnson will illuminate the material realities that informed his groundbreaking research.


Sunday morning tours (April 11)
4. Cradle of Jazz Driving Tour (approximately 2.5 hours)
    11:00 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
    Price: $43 per person
This minivan tour traces the birth of jazz in New Orleans with visits to the homes and haunts of pioneers like Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, and King Oliver. Along the way, you'll hear vintage recordings and learn what each of these greats brought to America's original art form. Even if you know nothing about jazz, the tour offers a historically accurate narrative guaranteed to entertain as well as inform.
5. Neighborhood Cultural Driving Tour (approximately 4 hours)
    9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
    Price:  $63 per person (includes brunch)
    $43 per person (tour only)
This minivan tour highlights some of the unique cultural traditions embedded in New Orleans's diverse neighborhoods. The tour will carry you through the Treme' and the Ninth Ward to sites such as Congo Square, the Backstreet Cultural Museum, Musicians' Village, St. Augustine Church's Tomb of the Unknown Slave, and the levee break in the Lower Ninth Ward. Hosted by local artist and activist Cherise Harrison-Nelson, the tour will include music by local performers, close-up views of authentic Mardi Gras Indian ritual attire, and a final stop at Lil Dizzy's for a Creole Sunday brunch.
6. Volunteer: Rebuilding Together (approximately 6 hours)
    8:00 a.m. -2:00 p.m.
    Price: $20 per person, includes volunteer contribution for materials, box lunch, and transportation to site.
For the 2010 conference, the SSSL is subsidizing a unique opportunity to contribute directly to the rebuilding of New Orleans nearly five years after Hurricane Katrina and the failure of the levees. Conference participants are invited to work with Rebuilding Together New Orleans, a local affiliate of Rebuilding Together, Inc., which, since 1988, has sought to fulfill its mission of revitalizing the homes of elderly and disabled low-income citizens. RTNO has experience working with individuals and groups of all sizes, from all backgrounds, with varying degrees of skills. The type of work performed by volunteers varies, but may consist of interior or exterior painting, laying flooring, light carpentry or landscaping. Your service will be rewarded by good feelings, tired muscles, an RTNO t-shirt, and a reusable water bottle. (A minimum of ten volunteers is required.)    


   Conference Hotel  
Phone:  1-504-525-1111                    Fax :  1-504-525-0688                    Toll-free:  1-800-372-0482
We are pleased to be holding our 2010 conference at the Renaissance Pere Marquette, a newly renovated hotel, just a block across Canal Street from the French Quarter and steps away from the streetcar and all the attractions of downtown New Orleans. The Pere Marquette was originally built in 1925 and features a contemporary jazz-inspired atmosphere with 272 comfortable rooms, spacious marble baths and many other amenities, including high-speed internet access. Renovated in 2007 and a Marriott property, the hotel has a beautiful lobby with lots of "visiting room," an attractive bar, an outdoor pool and a neo-Creole restaurant (MiLa) on its premises. The conference spaces (on the second floor) include a ballroom and several well-appointed meeting rooms.

To reserve a room at the Pere Marquette Hotel, please click here, and then look for the "Check Rates and Availability" link on the right side of the webpage. The conference dates and Group Code (sslssla) are already listed; select your preferred arrival date and continue as instructed. Room rates are $139.
Note: If the website indicates "no availability" for rooms at this rate for dates immediately before or after the conference, please contact Mr. Keith Vincent at 504-412-2558

• Valet and on-site parking rates at the Pere Marquette: $29 day
• Other parking lots and street parking may also be available. 
  

Message Board

In order to facilitate communication among conference participants (sharing rooms or transportation, identifying the best places to eat or hear a little music or shop, arranging meeting-places, asking questions, or whatever else conference-goers might want to communicate, we've set up the "SSSLMessage Board" on wikispaces.com:   http://ssslmessageboard.wikispaces.com/


 Travel Information 
New Orleans is served by the Louis Armstrong International Airport (MSY), located about 15 miles from downtown New Orleans and the conference hotel.
Phone:  (504) 464-354

Airlines Flying to MSY:
AirTran
American Airlines
Continental Airlines
Delta Airlines
JetBlue
Southwest Airlines
United Airlines
US Airways

Ground Transportation
Taxicabs
A cab ride costs $33.00 from the airport to the Central Business District (CBD) for one or two persons and $14.00 (per passenger) for three or more passengers.  Pick-up is on the lower level, outside the baggage claim area.  There may be an additional charge for extra baggage.


Airport Shuttle Company
Shuttle service is available from the airport to the hotels in the CBD for $20.00 (per person, one-way) or $38.00 (per person, round-trip). Three bags per person. Call 1-866-596-2699 or (504) 522-3500 for more details or to make a reservation. Advance reservations are required 48 hours prior to travel for all ADA accessible transfers. Please call well enough in advance for the specially-equipped shuttle to be reserved. For group reservations of 50 or more people please dial 1-866-596-2699. Ticket booths are located on the lower level in the baggage claim area.

Rental Car Companies in or near the Airport
Alamo
Avis
Budget
Enterprise
Hertz
National Car Rental
Thrifty Car Rental
Dollar Rent-A-Car
Advantage Rent-A-Car

Public Transportation
Downtown New Orleans (where the conference hotel is located) is very walkable, with adequate public transportation to other parts of the city, including the streetcar uptown to the universities or out to City Park. Bus and streetcar fare is $1.25, exact change required.

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